eFire Master League Season 2 reaches grand final
The second season of eFire's Master League has reached its final round, with AA and Keep the Comms Up being the two sides left standing to face off in the grand final.
AA will enter the grand final with a one-map advantage due to a flawless run through the upper bracket, which saw them take down the recently-signed Polar Ace lineup and Thunder Logic to secure their berth.
Despite starting their series against Polar Ace on the backfoot, conceding a loss on Inferno 7-16, AA were swift to bounce back, putting up a stellar showing on the defensive side of Overpass to help even the series score with a 16-6 map victory.
Robert "robby" Brown and company maintained momentum as the final map, Mirage, got underway, dominating the Polar Ace defense for a 7-1 lead. Although a response came in from the former ETHEREAL squad to keep the two teams within one round at halftime, the second half went firmly in the favor of AA as they only conceded two additional rounds before taking the map 16-9.
AAETHEREAL| AA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Robert 'robby' Brown |
55 - 37 | +18 | 77.1 | 68.6% | 1.16 |
| Matthew 'nero' Seymour |
51 - 42 | +9 | 71.1 | 70.0% | 1.13 |
| Damian 'EMIYA' Boulware |
47 - 47 | +0 | 83.3 | 67.1% | 1.10 |
| Lucas 'Fiziq' Blow |
46 - 49 | -3 | 73.3 | 70.0% | 1.07 |
| Brenden 'stellar' McGrath |
47 - 46 | +1 | 77.9 | 68.6% | 1.04 |
| ETHEREAL |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malick 'dangle' Abid |
57 - 47 | +10 | 75.9 | 60.0% | 1.08 |
 Shawn 'Magowi' O'Malley |
42 - 51 | -9 | 68.1 | 68.6% | 0.95 |
| Dennison 'fdeN' Fong |
45 - 51 | -6 | 72.3 | 65.7% | 0.91 |
| Tony 'w0w' Zachary |
38 - 46 | -8 | 66.2 | 62.9% | 0.89 |
| Austin 'RenZ' Dickman |
38 - 51 | -13 | 64.8 | 64.3% | 0.84 |
Meanwhile, Thunder Logic took on Keep the Comms Up on the other side of the upper bracket, with Sean "Inseaniac" Morrison being the standout performer in a tense quadruple overtime affair on Nuke. It took 55 frags from the 20-year-old to help his side narrowly edge out a 28-26 win on their opponent's map pick, but the score in the series was quickly evened up as Keep the Comms Up came to life on Mirage, taking a 16-4 victory.
Thunder Logic bounced back as Overpass got underway, posting an 11-4 half on the T-side to put themselves a handful of rounds away from a series victory. A fast win was not to be however, with Keep the Comms Up answering in kind on their own T-side to force overtime. There, Thunder Logic stabilized, posting a flawless 3-0 CT half before closing out the map 19-15.
Keep the Comms UpThunder Logic| Keep the Comms Up |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling 'sterling' Allard |
87 - 73 | +14 | 86.9 | 80.6% | 1.25 |
| Jonah 'JonahP' Pulice |
88 - 68 | +20 | 82.3 | 71.3% | 1.24 |
| Trevor 'FrostayK' Bandle |
80 - 73 | +7 | 84.7 | 75.0% | 1.15 |
| Nick 'zeptic' Kaoud |
69 - 72 | -3 | 77.5 | 83.3% | 1.11 |
| Blake 'miniature' Gittins |
79 - 83 | -4 | 74.0 | 72.2% | 1.04 |
| Thunder Logic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sean 'Inseaniac' Morrison |
92 - 77 | +15 | 83.1 | 70.4% | 1.19 |
| Andy 'Andersin' Collins |
74 - 83 | -9 | 80.2 | 64.8% | 1.01 |
| Bryce 'PureR' Lovell |
78 - 83 | -5 | 76.0 | 69.4% | 1.01 |
| Brian 'Brian2K' Ladron De Guevara |
67 - 78 | -11 | 63.3 | 67.6% | 0.90 |
| Brandon 'Sharkie' Ly |
58 - 82 | -24 | 70.3 | 67.6% | 0.87 |
Thunder Logic then faced off against AA in the upper bracket final, where robby and company reigned supreme. One-sided wins on Dust2 and Overpass left Thunder Logic with little room to fight back into the series, with AA securing 16-10 and 16-4 victories to advance to the grand finals.
Thunder LogicAA| Thunder Logic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryce 'PureR' Lovell |
26 - 35 | -9 | 76.5 | 56.5% | 0.90 |
| Andy 'Andersin' Collins |
31 - 40 | -9 | 71.1 | 60.9% | 0.85 |
| Sean 'Inseaniac' Morrison |
23 - 38 | -15 | 60.6 | 58.7% | 0.75 |
| Brian 'Brian2K' Ladron De Guevara |
24 - 38 | -14 | 58.5 | 52.2% | 0.75 |
| Brandon 'Sharkie' Ly |
25 - 37 | -12 | 55.0 | 54.3% | 0.68 |
| AA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robert 'robby' Brown |
45 - 26 | +19 | 98.5 | 78.3% | 1.44 |
| Lucas 'Fiziq' Blow |
39 - 25 | +14 | 89.5 | 82.6% | 1.35 |
| Brenden 'stellar' McGrath |
35 - 25 | +10 | 84.1 | 87.0% | 1.32 |
| Matthew 'nero' Seymour |
38 - 29 | +9 | 87.8 | 78.3% | 1.30 |
| Damian 'EMIYA' Boulware |
31 - 24 | +7 | 65.8 | 69.6% | 1.08 |
Down in the lower bracket, Keep the Comms Up saw to the elimination of Polar Ace, kicking off the series with a 13-2 opening salvo on the T-side of Mirage before eventually closing out the map 16-8. The second map, Polar Ace's pick, Inferno, saw a slightly closer scoreline, with Keep the Comms Up edging out an 8-7 lead at halftime. However, following the side swap, Jonah "JonahP" Pulice's side wasted little time in bringing the series to a swift conclusion as they only conceded three rounds on the road to a 16-10 win, knocking Polar Ace out of the tournament.
Keep the Comms UpPolar Ace| Keep the Comms Up |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonah 'JonahP' Pulice |
51 - 25 | +26 | 100.1 | 86.0% | 1.69 |
| Blake 'miniature' Gittins |
37 - 29 | +8 | 77.1 | 74.0% | 1.22 |
| Trevor 'FrostayK' Bandle |
31 - 26 | +5 | 71.5 | 88.0% | 1.19 |
| Nick 'zeptic' Kaoud |
33 - 29 | +4 | 72.1 | 76.0% | 1.15 |
| Sterling 'sterling' Allard |
28 - 27 | +1 | 64.5 | 74.0% | 1.05 |
| Polar Ace |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dennison 'fdeN' Fong |
33 - 37 | -4 | 78.5 | 62.0% | 0.99 |
| Malick 'dangle' Abid |
34 - 33 | +1 | 61.8 | 72.0% | 0.94 |
| Austin 'RenZ' Dickman |
26 - 41 | -15 | 75.6 | 66.0% | 0.90 |
| Shawn 'Magowi' O'Malley |
24 - 37 | -13 | 56.3 | 70.0% | 0.83 |
| Tony 'w0w' Zachary |
19 - 32 | -13 | 51.1 | 64.0% | 0.74 |
The lower bracket win for Keep the Comms Up set up a rematch against Thunder Logic, and this time, the series unfolded in far different fashion than the close scoreline of the first. Keep the Comms Up took immediate control of Overpass, mustering a 10-5 half on the defense before winning six straight rounds following the side swap, taking the map 16-6.
Nine rounds on the T-side kept JonahP and company in control as Nuke got underway, with four rounds in the second half allowing for a 13-6 lead before Thunder Logic were able to respond. A spree of five rounds narrowed the deficit to 13-11, but a complete comeback was not on the cards as Keep the Comms Up took the map over the line, 16-12, to advance to the grand final.
Thunder LogicKeep the Comms Up| Thunder Logic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon 'Sharkie' Ly |
31 - 43 | -12 | 77.2 | 75.5% | 0.95 |
| Bryce 'PureR' Lovell |
32 - 40 | -8 | 67.5 | 61.2% | 0.91 |
| Andy 'Andersin' Collins |
33 - 40 | -7 | 74.0 | 65.3% | 0.88 |
| Brian 'Brian2K' Ladron De Guevara |
31 - 40 | -9 | 67.9 | 55.1% | 0.85 |
| Sean 'Inseaniac' Morrison |
23 - 39 | -16 | 50.6 | 65.3% | 0.71 |
| Keep the Comms Up |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonah 'JonahP' Pulice |
47 - 34 | +13 | 106.4 | 87.8% | 1.51 |
| Sterling 'sterling' Allard |
41 - 30 | +11 | 90.1 | 85.7% | 1.42 |
| Nick 'zeptic' Kaoud |
39 - 30 | +9 | 80.8 | 81.6% | 1.31 |
| Blake 'miniature' Gittins |
38 - 31 | +7 | 77.7 | 71.4% | 1.20 |
| Trevor 'FrostayK' Bandle |
37 - 25 | +12 | 74.0 | 75.5% | 1.19 |
AA and Keep the Comms Up will face off in the best-of-five grand finals on Thursday at 6 PM EDT.
