ELEAGUE Group A recap

ELEAGUE has been broadcast on national TV in the US and on different platforms in various other countries. Time will show if the TV broadcast was a success, but the games surely were.

The $1.4 million tournament kicked off with Group A, which consisted of Brazilian powerhouse Luminosity, the not so simple Liquid, Cloud9, who have a fairly new IGL in Alec "⁠Slemmy⁠" White, and the Aussies of Renegades. The league started out with a double round-robin stage in which each victory accounted for one point.

In the first match of the tournament, the #1 team in the world, Luminosity, went up against Renegades on Cobblestone and got a close 19-17 win  thanks to Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David's 1.31 rating performance. The second map, Train, was a 16-0 blowout, earning Luminosity a second point, with Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga leading the charge on a 2.24 rating.

The Brazilians confronted the struggling Liquid in their next matches and they secured Dust2 with a 16-6 result as Lincoln "⁠fnx⁠" Lau posted a 1.99 rating with a 27:8 score. Cobblestone was a vintage one as Liquid had a 12-3 lead at halftime but failed to close it out, allowing a 16-14 Luminosity win.

Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo & company secured two more points against Cloud9 after beating them 16-7 on Dust2 and 16-10 on Train and guaranteed the #1 seed. coldzera, who is now considered the best player in the world by many, was relentless on the second map as he had a 28:10 score and a 1.83 rating.

Liquid were pushed down to the #4 seed as they lost four more matches, two to Cloud9 (16-11 on Dust2, 16-2 on Cache) and two to Renegades (16-14 on Mirage, 16-10 on Train). Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip absolutely demolished Liquid on Cache with a 29:7 score, a 150.4 ADR, and a 2.55 rating.

The group playoffs pitted Cloud9 against Renegades as they were the #2 and #3 seeds, respectively. The North American team won the series 2-0 after taking Cobblestone 16-3 and Cache 16-11. The new hairstyle of the Reddit front page king Mike "⁠shroud⁠" Grzesiek gave him an extra boost as he finished the series with a 48:21 score and a 1.63 rating. The captain of the Aussies, Chad "⁠SPUNJ⁠" Burchill, on the other hand, struggled to make an impact, posting a 0.41 rating.

fnx feasted on Liquid in the second semi-final as he averaged a 1.75 rating, contributing to his team's 2-0 victory (16-6 on Train, 16-12 on Nuke). Liquid's Eric "⁠adreN⁠" Hoag delivered a poor showing with a 14:38 score and paltry 0.46 rating.

A spot at the ELEAGUE playoffs was up for grabs in the group final between Luminosity and Cloud9 and these teams put on a fantastic show for TBS viewers. The American side were the victors on Mirage with a 16-11 scoreline as Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert put in a great performance, posting a 1.83 rating and a 33:18 score.

Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham's 35:23 score on Cobblestone wasn't enough for Cloud9 to close it out as the Brazilians picked it up 19-16. FalleN took total control on Dust2 and brought the series home with a 1.60 rating. With this result, Luminosity have qualified for the ELEAGUE playoffs and Cloud9 have booked themselves a spot at the Last Chance Qualifier.

Group A MVP: Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David

The 21-year-old Brazilian has added another dominant LAN performance to his résumé as his sensational performances in Atlanta were unmatched. coldzera's impact showed up right from the get-go as he was the best in the pistol rounds with a 1.46 rating. His 1.28 ranking across 11 maps was also the highest in the group. coldzera had the second least deaths per round and was successful in 67.3% of his opening duels. If he keeps going at this rate, we already know who will win the Player of the Year award.

Final standings of Group A:

1. – Luminosity: 12 points (6p GS + 2p SF + 4p GF) + A spot at the ELEAGUE playoffs
2. – Cloud9: 5 points (3p GS + 2p SF) + A spot at the Last Chance Qualifier
3. – Renegades: 3 points (3p GS)
4. – Liquid: 0 points

*GS: group stage – SF: semi-finals – GF: grand finals

The ELEAGUE journey of Liquid is over while Renegades still has a chance as the two third-placed teams with the most points will earn a spot at the Last Chance Qualifier.

The tournament will continue next Tuesday with Group B and you can visit our tournament page for more information.

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