ESEA Season 23 MDL Global ChallengeVG, Bravado to MDL GC LAN Finals
VG.CyberZen and Bravado secure their qualification spots for the Mountain Dew League Global Challenge LAN Finals, following their victories in their respective regions' grand finals of ESEA Open.
In the Asian region, eleven out of fourty-one teams went through to the playoffs of ESEA Open Season 23. Thailand's Signature was originally going to be the twelfth team to fill in the uneven list, but their status was shown as "dead' on the website beforehand, and therefore did not compete.
In the first stage of the playoffs, Brutality had some difficulty against Dennis "CaptainAllen" Pau's TomorrowLAN as they traded the first two maps with each other 16-11. The Indian team manage to take the last map in overtime and eventually skipped the quarter-finals due to Mohd "wanr0" Syazwan Hanafie's Orange not making an appearance. Meanwhile, VG.CyberZen defeated the Phillipine's Mineski and Japan's DeToNator in swift 2-0 fashion, allowing the Chinese to reach the semi-finals.
Savage's injury has healed and is back in full form with this win
With all the recent drama on social media about females in esports this week, Sarindhorn "JinNy" Wanothayarnchai is the only female player competing in the other Thai team, known as MiTH. She had no problem in performing against her male opponents, as MiTH defeated RevivaL in two straight maps. MiTH moved on to the semi-finals, after receiving a forfeit win against nxl, who had roster issues.
Emc became the last team to join the top four of the bracket, as they dropped G1WOLVES in their quarter-final match 2-0 earlier. However, this Hong Kong team's journey came to an end by MiTH's hand in their next match, with JinNy displaying a 1.30 rating in the 2-0 series.
Swapping over to the other semi-final, Bin "Savage" Liu's men absolutely destroyed Brutality more than their previous opponents. Ankit "V3nom" Panth's side had no answer against VG.CyberZen, as the Indians failed to put up more than five rounds on either maps.
Heading into the grand final, VG.CyberZen continued their amazing form thrashing MiTH on both maps to take the series 2-0 (16-5 de_cache and 16-3 de_nuke).
 MiTH |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 - 33 | -9 | 65.1 | 0.83 | |
| 19 - 36 | -17 | 55.5 | 0.61 | |
| 20 - 36 | -16 | 55.6 | 0.59 | |
| 15 - 35 | -20 | 56.5 | 0.58 | |
| 17 - 36 | -19 | 52.4 | 0.49 |
 VG.CyberZen |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 - 23 | +22 | 122.0 | 1.82 | |
| 35 - 21 | +14 | 101.8 | 1.55 | |
| 36 - 19 | +17 | 97.8 | 1.50 | |
| 33 - 19 | +14 | 84.1 | 1.40 | |
| 26 - 13 | +13 | 50.0 | 1.24 |
ESEA Open Season 23 Asia final standings:
1.
VG.CyberZen - MDL Global Challenge LAN spot
2.MiTH - $700
3-4.Brutality - $450
3-4.EMC - $450
5-8.G1WOLVES - $100
5-8.DeToNator - $100
5-8.nxl - $100
5-8.Orange - $100
9-11.
9-11.
9-11.
In the South African region, there were less teams involved as eight out of seventeen teams climbed to the single-elimination playoffs. Rhys "Fadey" Armstrong's carboN went undefeated in the online round-robin group stage, defeating sixteen different opponents before qualifying for the playoffs.
Occuring in other regions as well, White Rabbit was the the only victim to forfeit their match, which promoted carboN to the semi-finals. While last season's winner, Bravado stomped FlipSid3 Africa 2-0, even though the second map went to double-digits.
Bravado will attend another international event to make South Africa proud again
Jumping into the remaining two matches of the quarter-final stage, Aperture and Damage Control crushed puLse and xTc respectively, as the two winning teams slotted themselves into the semi-finals.
Dominic "Domsterr" Sampaio had a impressive performance facing Damage Control with a 1.79 rating, pushing his team to the grand final. On the other side of the mirror, the favourites obtained the first map on Mirage 16-5 against Aperture. Trevor "kanii" Morley did the best he could for Aperture, but it was not enough to stop Aran "Sonic" Groesbeek's squad from transferring to the final stage, clinching the second map 16-14 on Cobblestone.
Everyone on Bravado contributed in the opening of the grand final, gifting themselves an easy 16-5 win on the first map. The 17-year-old youngster Johnny "JT" Theodosiou, lifted his game in the next map, with 35-kills on Nuke to tie the series 1-1. Unfortunately, carboN will be disappointed as they witnessed their Community Manager, Roberto "blackpoisoN" Dall'Occo putting a stop to their incredible winning streak they showed throughout the season. Bravado claimed Overpass 16-9, closing the series 2-1 their way.
 carboN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64 - 55 | +9 | 84.0 | 1.21 | |
| 59 - 54 | +5 | 89.4 | 1.15 | |
| 48 - 55 | -7 | 65.7 | 0.87 | |
| 38 - 61 | -23 | 69.1 | 0.77 | |
| 35 - 54 | -19 | 58.5 | 0.69 |
 Bravado |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66 - 50 | +16 | 93.4 | 1.27 | |
| 58 - 47 | +11 | 86.5 | 1.27 | |
| 55 - 53 | +2 | 84.7 | 1.18 | |
| 51 - 45 | +6 | 75.7 | 1.14 | |
| 48 - 49 | -1 | 73.0 | 1.02 |
ESEA Open Season 23 South Africa final standings:
1.
Bravado - MDL Global Challenge LAN spot
2.
3-4.
3-4.
5-8.
5-8.
5-8.
5-8.
With the Asian and South African region done and dusted, VG.CyberZen and Bravado also grab their spots at the main event again. Hopefully, both teams can attend this time without any visa issues involved, compared to the previous season. Here is the updated list of participants so far:
| Region | Teams |
| Oceania |  Athletico |
| Asia | VG.CyberZen |
| South Africa | Bravado |
| Brazil |  Regional winner |
| North America |  Premier #1 & #2 |
| Europe |  Premier #1 & #2 |
Sarindhorn 'JinNy' Wanothayarnchai
Dominic 'Domsterr' Sampaio
Tomekas85
Heyda
| 
eyBois
| 
ItzMqss ESBO
sryIdontspeaklondon
ayylmaoboy
Nohten
| 
Schweinepriester
| 
bannedfor10years
| 
Graphyx
