00NATION eliminate Rooster from ESL Pro League S17

The Brazilians were made to work for their victory, losing the opener 3-16 and coming back from 7-14 down on Inferno.

00NATION defeated Rooster in the eighth-place decider of ESL Pro League S17 with a 2-1 scoreline. The teams won each other's map picks of Anubis (16-3) and Inferno (16-14) before the game was decided on Mirage. Rooster made a blunder in the veto, not banning a map in time during the second rotation and forcing the system to automatically ban Nuke, their most played map in the last three months. That cost Rooster the game as they dropped the final map in a close battle, 12-16.

00NATION stay alive at EPL and are now set to continue the last chance gauntlet run against the loser of paiN vs. Grayhound. That game will be played on Sunday at 12:30 , with the winner qualifying for the fourth-place decider game.

Rooster's international debut comes to an end with the loss. The majority-Australian side were bested by FaZe and paiN before they fell to 00NATION in the eighth-place decider. The squad undoubtedly have many takeaways to learn from as they return to regional CS, hoping to qualify for another international opportunity.

Rooster put their CT side issues from the first two matches behind them on Anubis, getting on the board after a full-eco victory in the second round. That set the tone for the rest of the half as Rooster stifled 00NATION's attacks with ease. The Oceanic squad soon reached double digits at 10-3 before Akram "⁠ADK⁠" Smida won a clutch to cement a 12-3 half. Tyson "⁠asap⁠" Paterson, the hero of their match against FaZe, was once again the star of the show with 19 kills and 139 ADR on the defense. Rooster continued their domination on the T side and won the four rounds needed to close out the map, asap winning a 1vs3 clutch in the final round to set the final scoreline at 16-3.

Now on their opponent's map pick of Inferno, Rooster got the best of 00NATION in the early game once again. The plucky underdogs decided to start on the offense and showed a prominent T side, getting off to an 8-1 start. Their domination continued, and they set up an easy path to a 2-0 victory over 00NATION with a 12-3 lead at the half.

00NATION won the second-half pistol to make the scoreline closer but struggled massively against the Rooster force buys. That meant that as soon as the majority-Australian team posted their first with the help of asap's 1vs2 clutch, 00NATION's money was broken. Rooster made the most out of that to get up to 14 before struggling to close out the map. They let 00NATION get back into the game and reach double digits, the scores eventually tied up at 14-14. Their inexperience showed in the form of unnecessary peeks and rushed rotations, allowing their opponents nine in a row to move the series onto a third map.

Mirage played host to the final map of the series after Rooster's mistake in the veto and 00NATION, who have struggled in the series so far, started strong with a 7-1 start. Rooster put together a recovery towards the end of the half but still went into their defense three rounds behind, needing a strong CT side if they were to have a chance at a victory.

Rooster strung five in a row to start the second half to go 11-9 up, but their CT side woes came back as they failed to keep the momentum going any further. 00NATION came back to retake the lead, 12-11, and then proceeded to assert T-side dominance and secured a 16-12 win to keep themselves alive in the tournament.