ESL Challenger League Season 45 NA recap, so far

ECL S45 NA started a little less than a month ago, but there are still teams without a single game played or just one game played, and already the league has seen a team withdrawing from it.

Less than two weeks after the beginning of the season, LOS + oNe saw its IGL Pedro "Maluk3" Campos leave, as Victor "⁠iDk⁠" Torraca's contract ended on the 13th of April and Matheus "⁠pesadelo⁠" Panisset was benched on the same day.

S45 has welcomed two new organizations, the former Detonate squad is now under Wildcard's banner, and the former 1 JIN roster now represents Fluffy Aimers. A legendary tag has returned in Party Astronauts with the core having left Evil Geniuses earlier this year.

As tradition dictates, there are teams almost done with the regular season while others have barely played.

paiN, one of the favorites to win it all, have played all the group stage matches they have to, due to scheduling, as the Brazilians needed to go to Europe for Brazy Party and have since stayed there due to the BLAST.tv Paris Major. paiN ended the regular season with a 5-1 record, as they lost 2-0 against Nouns on the opening match of the season.

paiN are top of Group A, but following closely are Nouns with a 3-0 record, defeating paiN, BHOP, and Mythic. Fluffy Aimers didn't have a bad debut despite the 0-2 result against paiN, as they managed to beat timbermen the week after. Mythic currently have a 1-2 record, with a win over timbermen, and losses against paiN and Nouns. timbermen are next on the standings with one win and three losses. EG Black have only played once, against paiN, and they couldn't manage to beat the Brazilians.

At the moment, Group B is seeing Wildcard on top, with four wins in four matches against Limitless, Take Flyte, Party Astronauts, and ATK. Strife also have an undefeated record, but fewer games as they just played and beat ATK and Limitless. Take Flyte also have two games played but a split record as they defeated Limitless but lost against Wildcard. Party Astronauts share the same record, with a win over Snakes Den and a loss against Wildcard. ATK are going through a rough patch with a win over Limitless but two losses against Strife and Wildcard. Snakes Den only played the match against Party Astronauts, which they lost. Limitless have played four and lost four against Wildcard, Take Flyte, ATK, and Strife. MIBR haven't played a single series yet.

Next week's matches will be: