Monte win ESL Challenger Jönköping undefeated

The European combine lifted their first LAN trophy after beating Eternal Fire 2-0 in the final.

Monte lifted their first international LAN trophy in Jönköping, Sweden, after taking out Eternal Fire in the ESL Challenger grand final at Elmia during DreamHack Winter.

Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov’s men, the highest-ranking team at the tournament, took out TYLOO, Nouns, and Virtus.pro before closing out their undefeated run with a 2-0 victory in the final.

Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli and company, who came into the bout after a three-map thriller against MIBR not long before the grand final, took the first pistol round on the T side of Vertigo, their map pick. Their early advantage didn’t last long, however, as Monte regained the lead and Sergiy "⁠DemQQ⁠" Demchenko even clutched a 14hp 1vs1 to get his team up 5-2.

Monte went up 8-4 at the half and won the second pistol round, although Eternal Fire struck right back with a strong Ramp play in the forcebuy. The Turks brought it back to 9-9, but eventually crumbled on the comeback path by giving up three out of four rounds, which was enough for the side led by Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev to steal the map 13-10.

Eternal Fire started Anubis on the attack, but failed to establish a commanding lead despite winning pistols and going up 3-0, as it was all squared up ten rounds in. A final push by MAJ3R and company put them ahead by two at the half, however, leaving an opening to make the map competitive in the second half.

Alexander "⁠br0⁠" Bro won a droll 1vs1 in the second pistol round against Buğra "⁠Calyx⁠" Arkın in which both players had to reload and Monte extended their lead, but failed to gain the necessary momentum to push the series over the line.

An ace by Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş in the 22nd round evened things up and two rounds later the map was sent to overtime. br0, who put on a fantastic showing in the final and on Anubis in particular, was the main engine keeping Monte in contention with 36 kills and a 1.56 rating on the map when all was said and done after 35 rounds, 19-16 in his team’s favor.

Along with their first LAN trophy and a $50,000 grand prize, Monte have also earned a spot in ESL Pro League Season 19, which will take place in Malta on April 23-May 12 2024.

The ESL Challenger Jönköping final standings are:

1. Monte - $50,000 + ESL Pro League S19
2. Eternal Fire - $20,000
3-4. MIBR - $10,000
3-4. Virtus.pro - $10,000
5-6. Nouns - $3,000
5-6. GamerLegion - $3,000
7-8. TYLOO - $2,000
7-8. 3DMAX - $2,000