Spirit secure playoffs; KOI, Lynn Vision eliminated

chopper's side has avoided a trip to the last chance bracket.

Spirit have locked in a playoff berth at ESL Pro League Season 20 after reverse-sweeping 3DMAX in the lower bracket final of Group B, recovering from a one-sided loss on Anubis (6-13) with aplomb by dominating on Ancient (13-6) and Nuke (13-2).

Meanwhile, KOI and Lynn Vision had their Pro League journeys brought to early ends after losses to Wildcard and FlyQuest, respectively, in the last chance stage. The two surviving teams will face 3DMAX and Sangal in their next match, and need to win another best-of-three after that to advance to the playoffs.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 20
07/09/2024	Sangal 13:30 FlyQuest	Match
07/09/2024	Wildcard 16:30 3DMAX	Match

Spirit's formidable showing on the final two maps of their series against 3DMAX should inject some much-needed confidence ahead of the playoffs after a somewhat shaky group stage campaign.

The Russian team survived a scare from Wildcard in their opening series in large part thanks to a record-setting game from Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets, but couldn't convert that into an early playoff berth after dropping a 1-0 series lead to MIBR in the upper bracket semi-final. Spirit then got revenge on The MongolZ for their defeat at IEM Cologne, but needed to fight from behind after losing Ancient and only narrowly scraped a win on the Nuke decider.

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donk breaks CS2 kill record against Wildcard

3DMAX came into the lower bracket final on fire, proving a far more formidable opponent on Anubis for Spirit than The MongolZ had as they outclassed the Russian team 13-6 despite them winning both pistols and the conversion.

However, momentum quickly swung the other way on Ancient as donk and Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia led the charge in an equally one-sided victory, and the pair continued to run rampant in a blowout win on Nuke, 13-2, to shut the door on the possibility of an upset.

Wildcard's hopeful showing against Spirit was soured after a subsequent loss to 9z in the lower bracket of Group B, but a resounding win over KOI in the last chance stage has kept their tournament hopes alive. A 1.70-rated series from Love "⁠phzy⁠" Smidebrant ensured that his team marched to a swift 2-0 victory, with a match against 3DMAX next in the cards.

Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong's FlyQuest also avoided an early tournament exit, but they were made to work for it against Lynn Vision. Sike "⁠z4kr⁠" Zhang's phenomenal form continued in the elimination series, but it wasn't enough to secure his team victory despite winning the series opener.

The 21-year-old was the only positive player for his team in the 1-2 defeat, averaging a 1.35 rating, but his exceptional performance was soured by FlyQuest who edged out wins on Vertigo and Anubis to stay alive in the tournament.