ESEA Season 23 MDL Global ChallengeESEA S23 GC hits playoffs
Rogue and Tainted Minds are the final two teams to reach the semi-finals at the ESEA Season 23 Global Premier Challenge after beating Bravado Gaming and Muffin Lightning, respectively.
Rogue breezed past Bravado Gaming (Photo courtesy of ESEA)
With LDLC and Team Kinguin already through to the last-four stage, day two of the ESEA Global Premier Challenge with an all-American clash between Rush and Muffin Lightning, two teams who had been soundly beaten on day two.
Powered by a great display from Samuel "SileNt" Portillo, who boasted a Rating of 1.38, Muffin Lightning wrapped up the series by defeating Rush on two very close maps, the second of which going to overtime.
 Muffin Lightning |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58 - 40 | +18 | 89.6 | 1.40 | |
| 45 - 42 | +3 | 84.4 | 1.16 | |
| 44 - 45 | -1 | 70.3 | 1.08 | |
| 46 - 44 | +2 | 73.0 | 1.02 | |
| 38 - 42 | -4 | 68.9 | 0.95 |
 Rush |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48 - 46 | +2 | 80.4 | 1.05 | |
| 46 - 45 | +1 | 67.0 | 1.03 | |
| 47 - 51 | -4 | 77.2 | 0.98 | |
| 37 - 46 | -9 | 70.9 | 0.98 | |
| 35 - 43 | -8 | 65.0 | 0.85 |
Moving over to Group A, Rogue took on Bravado Gaming in Group A's elimination match, and it ended up being a walk in the park for the Europeans, who dropped just 10 rounds over the entire series to secure the second spot (16-7 on Train and 16-3 on Mirage).
 Rogue |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 46 - 16 | +30 | 107.9 | 1.74 | |
| 42 - 25 | +17 | 103.3 | 1.60 | |
| 35 - 23 | +12 | 87.6 | 1.42 | |
| 28 - 18 | +10 | 69.6 | 1.28 | |
| 31 - 26 | +5 | 82.4 | 1.27 |
 Bravado |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 - 36 | -9 | 72.9 | 0.90 | |
| 25 - 35 | -10 | 63.9 | 0.72 | |
| 21 - 38 | -17 | 66.5 | 0.66 | |
| 20 - 36 | -16 | 60.0 | 0.61 | |
| 15 - 37 | -22 | 41.8 | 0.45 |
The final match of the day pitted Tainted Minds against Muffin Lightning in an elimination match, with the Australians taking the lead in the series with a 16-12 win on Dust2 thanks to a stunning display from Jay "Liazz" Tregillgas, who got 36 kills to his name.
Muffin Lightning responded with a convincing 16-6 victory on Cache with a good all-round display, but Tainted Minds came back to haunt the Americans on the final map, Mirage, taking the win with a 16-13 scoreline with a great individual performance from Jesse "InfrequeNt" Barker.
 Tainted Minds |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75 - 53 | +22 | 91.8 | 1.32 | |
| 60 - 46 | +14 | 85.5 | 1.27 | |
| 58 - 58 | 0 | 85.3 | 1.07 | |
| 58 - 62 | -4 | 79.3 | 1.02 | |
| 40 - 61 | -21 | 63.7 | 0.74 |
| Muffin Lightning |
K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 71 - 54 | +17 | 97.2 | 1.36 | |
| 65 - 64 | +1 | 82.0 | 1.15 | |
| 49 - 59 | -10 | 76.7 | 0.97 | |
| 43 - 52 | -9 | 69.8 | 0.95 | |
| 49 - 62 | -13 | 64.7 | 0.89 |
This means that the semi-final match-ups for the tournament are the following:
 LDLC |
vs. |  Tainted Minds |
 Kinguin |
vs. |  Rogue |
Kévin 'Ex6TenZ' Droolans
Alex 'ALEX' McMeekin
Valentin 'mistou' Balbastro
Tomekas85
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Prawblems
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RrOuTe_FoRcE
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BanMeIfYouCan
still_defusing
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