ESL Challenger League S45 playoffs set to begin
As teams conclude their schedules for ESL Challenger League Season 45, the playoff picture is crystal clear, and the bracket is set.
MIBR, who won the last two seasons, were on the verge of missing this season's playoffs due to a schedule conflict but ultimately chose to try and defend their title.
In what feels like a very strong season of ESL Challenger League, only the big fish prevailed as some names that are used to playing in the playoffs are not doing so this time.
Starting with the teams that qualified, we have the big five of paiN, MIBR, Nouns, EG Black, and ATK. These are the usual names one can read at the top of their respective group season in and season out. Closing out the rest of the playoffs are a couple of new organizations and a familiar name that returned to life recently, Wildcard and FLUFFY AIMERS, and Party Astronauts.
One might notice that teams like Strife, timbermen, and LOS + oNe haven't been mentioned. Well, for those that don't remember, LOS + oNe are now "los two" as only Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa and Alencar "trk" Rossato remained tied to the organization. As for Strife, the team weren't able to field a roster for their last two matches. timbermen only managed a single win against BHOP, with the rest of their season being all losses.
Depending on the decision on how to handle the LOS + oNe situation, Limitless are going directly into ESEA Advanced next season as they finished last of their respective group. BHOP, timbermen, Snakes Den, and Take Flyte will play the relegation tournament, while Mythic and Strife will stay put in ESL Challenger League.
Fun fact: Mythic haven't played a playoffs series in more than a year, with their last appearance there being against Gaimin Gladiators (before going orgless, before Frag 17, before Nouns) on April 2022.
The first round of playoff matches will be:
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Nouns vs Party Astronauts -
Wildcard vs EG Black
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paiN vs ATK -
MIBR vs FLUFFY AIMERS
All four are currently scheduled for May 21st at 08:00PM.
