Grayhound, Movistar Riders secure playoff spots in Melbourne

28-4-2023 13:34

Both qualified squads will skip the next round of matches on Saturday.

Grayhound were the first team to secure a spot in the playoffs at ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 after going undefeated in Group A of the Australian LAN. The local heroes made quick work of the North American contingent at the event with victories over EG Black and Complexity in the first two best-of-one fixtures.

Joining the Australian core are Movistar Riders as Alejandro "⁠alex⁠" Masanet's men also moved past their opponents to secure their attendance in the playoffs and the highest seed from group B. The Spanish squad barely defeated Rare Atom in overtime before upsetting Bad News Eagles to advance.

Grayhound will take the stage again on Sunday for the playoffs

Joshua "⁠INS⁠" Potter's men started off their journey at the event by taking down EG Black on Inferno. Jay "⁠Liazz⁠" Tregillgas and Alistair "⁠aliStair⁠" Johnston tormented the North American squad on the T side, powering Grayhound to an 11-4 lead in the first half, which they were able to close out on the defense. The home team then took down Complexity in their second match following Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou and company's win over ECSTATIC in the opening match of the event.

EG Black and ECSTATIC will fight for survival in the Group A elimination match on Saturday, with the winner set to face Complexity for the second spot in the playoffs. All elimination and decider matches in the group stage will be played out in a best-of-three format.

ESL Challenger Melbourne groups revealed; Riders replace TheMongolz

Bad News Eagles came into ESL Challenger Melbourne as one of the favorites to lift the trophy after a great performance at the first European RMR, which resulted in their qualification to the Legends stage with a 3-1 record. The Kosovar squad bested VERTEX 16-10 in their first game on Vertigo to secure a qualification contest against Movistar Riders.

The Spaniards did not qualify for the event, brought on as a replacement for The MongolZ, and barely survived an overtime match against Rare Atom earlier in the day. alex and company thus came into their second match as the underdogs, but quickly showed they weren't pushovers on Inferno. The in-game leader topped the scoreboard on the CT side as his team claimed an 11-4 lead over Bad News Eagles.

Just as Dionis "⁠sinnopsyy⁠" Budeci's men started to claim a few consecutive rounds in the second half, Antonio "⁠MartinezSa⁠" Martinez came online and shut down the Kosovar comeback with a lighting-fast 1vs3 clutch in the final round to claim the victory. Bad News Eagles' defeat relegates them to the decider match against the winner of Rare Atom vs. VERTEX.

The remaining group stage matches are as follows:

Date	Matches
ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023
28/04/2023	VERTEX 13:25 Rare Atom	Match
29/04/2023	ECSTATIC 02:00 EG Black	Match
29/04/2023	Bad News Eagles 06:50 Rare Atom	Match
29/04/2023	Complexity 11:00 ECSTATIC	Match