5yclone eliminate Imperial from EPL

The Brazilians squandered big leads on two maps, whilst 5yclone showed admirable tenacity to fight back.

5yclone have ensured they live on in ESL Pro League by taking a 2-1 victory over Imperial, winning Nuke (16-14) and Overpass (16-10) either side of a drubbing on Anubis (6-16).

Despite losing, Imperial were in comfortable control of large portions of this series. They led Nuke 14-5 and managed to throw it, they led Overpass 8-2 and then only won two more rounds, and in both cases it seemed like a mental collapse as much as anything else. Considering the score on Anubis, the Brazilians will be left feeling they should have sealed the deal 2-0.

As for 5yclone, the way they managed to bounce back from tough situations was immense to watch. Yi "⁠JamYoung⁠" Yang and Jingxiang "⁠Mercury⁠" Wang in particular stepped up to provide big plays when they were needed, and the Chinese side played some creative and effective Counter-Strike to grab this victory, as they have done throughout the tournament thus far.

5yclone will continue their Last Chance run against the winner of 9z and Apeks, where victory will secure a spot in the playoffs.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
17/09/2023	5yclone 19:30 9z	Match

Nuke served as the first map in this series, and 5yclone ended up being put firmly on the back-foot early on their pick. The Chinese side started promisingly, a slick T side earning a 5-3 lead, before the Brazilians woke up and asserted dominance. Jhonatan "⁠JOTA⁠" Willian and Ricardo "⁠boltz⁠" Prass were brick walls, and their prowess drove Imperial to a 10-5 lead at the half.

Imperial continued to be in firm control when the sides first switched, getting to 14-5 with little trouble. It was here that disaster began to take hold, as 5yclone’s poised defense started to close the gap, and Imperial started to flounder. Such were the Brazilians’ struggles that they even seemed to be bickering during a timeout, and 5yclone pounced on their opponent’s collapse to snatch an unlikely 16-14 win.

Anubis was next, the pick of Imperial, and the Brazilians put up a fantastic CT half to kick things off. 5yclone struggled to deal with Imperial’s aggressive defensive approach, falling to a 1-10 deficit before they figured things out. After some adjustments the Chinese squad managed to salvage a 4-11 half, but it was too much of a deficit, and Imperial duly secured a routine 16-6 victory when the sides switched.

Overpass was the decider, and once again Imperial floundered after building a big lead. Imperial kicked off on the T side and were overpowering 5yclone to the tune of an 8-2 advantage, with the Chinese squad contributing to their own troubles with their economic choices. The script was flipped by JamYoung and Mercury to recover the half for their team, with the latter confirming a 7-8 score with a sublime 1v3 clutch.

5yclone continued their recovery with aplomb in the second half, with JamYoung in particular running riot as the Chinese squad marched toward victory. Imperial could only win a further two rounds, and 5yclone secured a 16-10 victory to seal the series.