ESL Pro League Season 22Falcons battle past 3DMAX into EPL semis
Falcons gave themselves an uphill battle throughout, losing every pistol round in regulation and regularly throwing away man-up scenarios.
Falcons have put themselves into the semi-finals of ESL Pro League Season 22 via a hard-fought 2-1 win over 3DMAX, coming back from a loss on Inferno (9-13) with wins on Ancient (13-7) and Nuke (16-13).
3DMAX put up a valiant fight throughout the series, overpowering Falcons on Inferno and winning some severely disadvantaged rounds to come back from 3-9 to take Nuke to overtime. Danny "zonic" Sørensen saw the positives for Falcons, however, citing their ability to push through on an off day.
"I am really pleased to see that we can pull it through on a day where we can feel a lot of things were off. Individual, communication, timing-wise, whatever it is."
Inferno came through to kick off the series, a good map for 3DMAX that is also a punish pick against Falcons, and the Frenchmen enjoyed a comfortable victory.
3DMAX's varied T side proved too much for Falcons to bear and earned a significant half-time lead, with the B site struggling in particular in the face of the French side's onslaught.
Some individual heroics secured Falcons a few rounds here and there, including a Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov 3K on 17hp to kick off a streak on offense, but 3DMAX were the more consistent side and took advantage of some poor Falcons mistakes, earning a deserved 1-0 lead in the series.
Ancient saw the shoe on the other foot as Falcons cruised to an easy victory, m0NESY and Maxim "kyousuke" Lukin running riot as a powerful offense garnered a hefty lead that was duly converted once Falcons got their economy in order in the second half.
Nuke seemed set to be another straightforward Falcons victory after a comfortable 9-3 T side, the European combine picking up an early force-buy win and outplaying 3DMAX across the map.
3DMAX reversed the tide in the second half, however, limiting Falcons to isolated rounds as Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski and co. struggled to martial themselves in mid-round scenarios. Pierre "Ex3rcice" Bulinge stepped up right at the death to clutch 1v3 and secure overtime, but Falcons' class shone through and they easily converted the series in the added rounds.
More highlights:
-
Ex3rcice gets all three on the retake to give 3DMAX map point
-
3DMAX take advantage of Falcons disasterclass round to close Inferno
 3DMAX |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 54 - 44 | +1.66% | 77.9 | 80.3% | 1.21 | |
| 53 - 46 | +0.19% | 89.1 | 73.2% | 1.08 | |
| 44 - 50 | -2.06% | 65.1 | 67.6% | 0.91 | |
| 35 - 43 | -2.73% | 60.7 | 73.2% | 0.87 | |
| 41 - 43 | -2.24% | 59.0 | 70.4% | 0.85 |
 Falcons |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 - 37 | +5.61% | 73.4 | 73.2% | 1.32 | |
| 46 - 45 | +0.89% | 81.3 | 71.8% | 1.16 | |
| 53 - 51 | +1.84% | 84.2 | 64.8% | 1.16 | |
| 37 - 46 | -0.86% | 59.8 | 71.8% | 0.95 | |
| 37 - 48 | -2.32% | 60.1 | 71.8% | 0.87 |
| 
| 
birko_bird
epicfailbro
iejesus
| 
kairb
kaat1L
Elextures
FRAGZOR
ZywOo_25_MVP_S1mple_just_aura
friendly_fire
| 
Aarib
gillith
| 
kilda_choose
DesMo_
NiKousukeNESY
| 
MissingN0
Pacota
SeriousJacksson
Escent14
| 
world_of_adventure
| 
Orion1d
