Tainted Minds, Grayhound advance to EPL S7 APAC playoffs

Tainted Minds kicked off the action in Sydney, taking on The MongolZ in the group stage opener. Despite a decent, six-round T side from the Mongolians on Cache, Tainted Minds took the map with a straightforward 16-6 scoreline as Yaman "⁠yam⁠" Ergenekon put up a beastly performance: +22 K-D, 16 AWP kills and 6 first kills.

Tainted Minds made it to the playoffs without dropping a map

To earn the first spot out of the group, Tainted Minds faced BOOT-d[S] as the Singaporean side upset Grayhound on Mirage (16-14) in the first game. Strong Terrorist halves on both Mirage and Cache led to a 2-0 victory for the Australians, with the fact that BOOT-d[S] were using Leslie "⁠Bobosaur⁠" Soen as a stand-in for Benedict "⁠Benkai⁠" Tan surely not helping their defensive-side cohesion.

ESL Pro League Season 7 Asia-PacificBest of 3

Tainted Minds

Matchpage

2

0

20th April 2018

BOOT-d[S]

16

Mirage

12

16

Cache

6

ESL Pro League Season 7 Asia-PacificBest of 3

Tainted Minds

Matchpage

2

0

20th April 2018

BOOT-d[S]

16

Mirage

12

16

Cache

6

After the initial defeat, Grayhound had to defeat The MongolZ in the elimination match, edging them out on Mirage in overtime (25-23), but taking a comfortable 16-7 victory on Overpass. That set up Erdenetsogt "⁠erkaSt⁠" Gantulga and co. for a rematch against BOOT-d[S], this time in a BO3.

The Australians firstly locked out their opposition on Cobblestone, securing 13 rounds on the defense which allowed them to easily close out the map, 16-5. The two teams then faced off on Mirage, where a similar story repeated: Grayhound had a 13-2 CT half and then won out the game convincingly, 16-8.

ESL Pro League Season 7 Asia-PacificBest of 3

BOOT-d[S]

Matchpage

0

2

20th April 2018

Grayhound

5

Cobblestone

16

8

Mirage

16

With these results, Tainted Minds and Grayhound have advanced to the playoffs, where two more teams will join them after Group A is played out tomorrow. On the final day, the two teams that will travel to Dallas for the ESL Pro League S7 Finals will be found through the playoffs.