Second day of ESEA Invite Season 11 finals is over with Ultimax Gaming upsetting defending champions Maximum Effort 2-1 in a close series (12-16 de_forge, 16-14 de_nuke, 16-11 de_tuscan).

The tournament started on Friday with mouseSpaz defeating sapphirekelowna in a close 2-1 series (16-12 on de_forge, 8-16 on de_train, 16-10 on de_nuke) in the first quarter-final of the upper bracket. Both Arya "arya" Hekmat and Jonathan "n0swal" Lawson put up solid numbers on their way to a win over the Canadians.

Result

ESEA Invite Season 1..

mouseSpaz

2

sapphirekelowna

1

Demo

Today started off with HRG going up against Check Six. The first map de_inferno was fairly back and forth with Matt "Warden" Dickens & co securing an 8-7 lead at half. Derrick "impulsive" Truong's team pulled through in the second half though, good for a 16-11 win.

Second map was plagued by HLTV problems due to Amazon's web services being down. In the first half HRG came back from a 1-7 deficit with Truong's ace in a two-on-five situation helping them immensely on their way to seven rounds. Check Six secured a few round wins due to Danny "fRoD" Montaner's AWPing, but it wasn't enough as they lost 13-16.

Result

ESEA Invite Season 1..

CheckSix

0

HRG

2

Ultimax Gaming USA faced mouseSpaz in the first upper bracket semi-final and the series was a nailbiter, going down to the very last rounds. UMX won their opponents' de_nuke 19-17 in overtime, but lost their map de_tuscan 12-16.

The final map was de_dust2 and UMX had a very strong terrorist half, changing sides with a comfortable 12-3 lead. mouseSpaz fought their way back in the second half and it looked like they were going to win when the score was 14-14, but Christian "sobo" Soboleske scored two important kills in a two-on-three situation where mSpaz members blinded each other and UMX went on to win 16-14.

Result

ESEA Invite Season 1..

mouseSpaz

1

UMX.us

2

Demo

At the same time the favorites who changed their name to Maximum Effort for the finals faced HRG who had upset Check Six earlier. High Rollers Gaming put up a valiant effort, winning eight rounds in the first half of de_nuke as terrorists and looked pretty solid overall, but even after winning the second half pistol round all it took for the house of cards to fall was Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert's win on the desert eagle buy which helped 100% secure a 16-10 win.

Second map was de_mirage and following a successful attack on the A bomb site, Maximum Effort quickly went up 3-0 as terrorists. Kevin "khayes" Hayes led HRG as he scored sixteen frags in their eight rounds half, but it once again wasn't enough as they were shut down in the second half and Maximum Effort won 16-9.

Result

ESEA Invite Season 1..

Maximum Effort

2

HRG

0

Demo

First round of lower bracket saw Danny "fRoD" Montaner's Check Six take on mSpaz. First up was de_nuke where mSpaz went up 5-2 as counter-terrorists but then went on to lose 9-16 as the experienced core of x6 simply outplayed the youngsters, winning multiple close rounds.

David "Xp3" Garrido's troops put up a wall on the second map as well, as they went up 9-2 as counter-terrorists on de_tuscan before settling for a 11-4 lead at half. mSpaz tried to keep their tournament hopes alive but their comeback wasn't enough even after winning the all important pistol round, as Check Six secured a 16-11 win to advance.

Result

ESEA Invite Season 1..

mouseSpaz

0

CheckSix

2

Demo

Meanwhile High Rollers Gaming defeated SK in the other lower bracket semi-final fairly easily, with a comfortable 16-5 win on de_nuke which saw them score eleven rounds as terrorists and close the game with a 5-1 score after switching sides.

For a while it looked like the Canadians could force this series on to the third map as they went up 6-0 on de_mirage, but HRG finally figured them out and went on to score seven rounds that half and win 16-11 for a 2-0 overall win.

Result

ESEA Invite Season 1..

HRG

2

sapphirekelowna

0

Demo

The lower bracket final saw a re-match of the second upper bracket quarter-final as Check Six faced HRG. HRG jumped up to a 10-5 lead as counter-terrorists, but losing multiple close rounds in the second half proved disasterous as Check Six grinded out a 16-13 win on de_nuke.

Second map was de_inferno where Check Six continued strong defensive play as they won the first seven rounds with Danny "fRoD" Montaner leading the way with sixteen frags. HRG had no answers for them, losing first half 3-12. Winning the second half pistol round made little difference, as HRG fell down 4-16 and lost 0-2 overall.

Result

ESEA Invite Season 1..

CheckSix

2

HRG

0

Demo

In the upper bracket final, Maximum Effort battled Nazar "steno" Vynnytsky's UMX. Brennan "ele1Nt" Webster's 100% had a strong defense in the opening half, as they were absolutely unstoppable in the first thirteen rounds before UMX got on the scoreboard. However, that only lasted for one round as Sean "sgares" Gares led his team to fourteen rounds at half with a 19-4 score.

Second half started with former Back2Back player Christian "sobo" Soboleske scoring four USP kills on the pistol round which propelled UMX to win the first three rounds. 100% bought and won round three, but the counter-terrorists' desert eagles brought it back and UMX went on to win nine straight rounds before finally losing the map 12-16.

Up next was 100%'s map pick de_nuke, where Paul "pauLy" Guerboyan's UMX continued extremely strong counter-terrorist play, winning eleven straight rounds to almost replicate Maximum Effort's run in the first map. Brennan "ele1Nt" Webster kept his team alive by helping them win three rounds while Kyle "flowsicK" Mendez had a score of 20-6 leading UMX.

steno is closer than ever to winning ESEA finals 

After switching sides it seemed like everything turned upside down once again, as Kory "semphis" Friesen led his team in frags with a 22-7 score as they tied the game up at fourteen. UMX pulled off a win in the 29th round, and Mendez' clever flank in the final round secured UMX a map victory to even the series at one.

It all came down to de_tuscan where 100% started off as counter-terrorists after a short break. Friesen continued his strong play by scoring four USP frags in the pistol round, but UMX's second round buy evened up the score. UMX went up 10-3 before the favorites replied, winning the last two rounds partly thanks to Braxton "swag" Pierce's FAMAS four kill round.

Pierce and Gilbert won a two-on-four pistol round as terrorists and at 3-1 it looked as if 100% was going to break UMX's money, but a one-on-three clutch by Francis "kiko" Lao turned the half around and in the end UMX managed to score the needed six rounds to upset the reigning champions.

Result

ESEA Invite Season 1..

Maximum Effort

1

UMX.us

2

Demo

 

UMX.us

K - D

+/-

HS %

Rating

Francis 'kiko' Lao

72-63

+9

N/A

1.20

Kyle 'flowsicK' Mendez

62-54

+8

N/A

1.08

Nazar 'steno' Vynnytsky

59-57

+2

N/A

1.03

Christian 'sobo' Soboleske

52-59

-7

N/A

0.92

Paul 'pauLy' Guerboyan

50-64

-14

N/A

0.77

 

 

100%

K - D

+/-

HS %

Rating

Brennan 'ele1Nt' Webster

63-60

+3

N/A

1.11

Braxton 'swag' Pierce

61-57

+4

N/A

1.07

Kory 'semphis' Friesen

59-64

-5

N/A

1.01

Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert

57-58

-1

N/A

0.99

Sean 'sgares' Gares

56-58

-2

N/A

0.97

 

Ultimax Gaming secured themselves a spot in the grand final with the victory over 100% who lost their first match on LAN since season nine finals. Maximum Effort will have to face Check Six in the consolidation final on Sunday morning. So far the standings look as follows:

1. TBD - $10,000
2. TBD - $4,000
3. TBD - $2,000
4. High Rollers Gaming - $1,400
5-6. sapphirekelownadotcom - $1,100
5-6. mouseSpaz - $1,100 

The action continues on Sunday at 17:00 with Maximum Effort going up against Check Six. The winner will face Ultimax Gaming USA in the grand final at 19:30. The grand final will feature two best-of-three series, should the team from lower bracket win the first one.

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