Space Soldiers beat eXtatus; advance to MDL final

The match started on Overpass, Space Soldiers’ pick, but it was eXtatus that got off to a flying start, winning the CT-side pistol round, the anti-ecos, and the first gun round with a big quad-kill from David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský, who was 15-1 after the first six rounds.

Finally Space Soldiers got on the board with a play towards A, but were instantly traded and after losing a forcebuy were down 1-8 and on an eco. Down 1-10, Engin "⁠ngiN⁠" Kor won a 1vs2 afterplant on B to get one more tally on the board. Finally, the Turkish side was able to scrape a few more rounds to go into the half 5-10.

Space Soldiers lost the second pistol round, but won the forcebuy to stay in the game, and after winning their anti-ecos and the first gun round were back in the game, trailing by two. Within one after winning another anti-eco, Space Soldiers lost a 3vs3 in the second gun round of the half.

A quad by Jindřich "⁠ZEDKO⁠" Chyba then got a four kills, including two headshots on short A, opening the map for his team to take the 13th round. Ultimately, eXtatus were able to close the map out, 16-12, without letting Space Soldiers take the lead at any point, and took the 1-0 lead into their map pick, Mirage.

MAJ3R & co. will fight to retain their title in the final

eXtatus was again able to take the pistol round, and the following anti-eco, but a successful B play by Space Soldiers on the first gun round kept the Turks in the game as they tied it up 2-2 against the forcebuy. Having won against a full eco, Space Soldiers further increased their lead to 4-2 after once again exploiting the B site.

eXtatus were finally able to stop a B play to stay close, 3-5, but were reset when Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli beat ZEDKO in a 1vs1 afterplant sending eXtatus back into an eco. Space Soldiers kept dominating the half, not allowing eXtatus to win crucial rounds and forcing the Slovak-Czech team to play with pistols.

Down 5-10, eXtatus won the pistol round with three big afterplant kills by Richard "⁠queztone⁠" Strnátko defending the A site plant from short to keep his team in the running. After the anti-ecos, with 10-8 on the board for Space Soldiers, the teams traded rounds but it was finally Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş & co. that chained some rounds and kept themselves in the lead, 13-9, while keeping eXtatus’ economy at bay. Ultimately, Space Soldiers locked down the map on the CT side, 16-9, taking it to the decider, Inferno.

frozen was a standout player for eXtatus against Space Soldiers

Once again eXtatus started the map getting ahead, and scraped by against a pistol buy from Space Soldiers in the first anti-eco. After starting 0-3, Space Soldiers took two rounds, but eXtatus were able to take B successfully detonate the bomb. Both teams then traded rounds, but eXtatus came out on top as Space Soldiers struggled to buy on the CT side.

eXtatus planted and had a 1vs3 defense up 6-3, but a big triple by Ahmet "⁠paz⁠" Karahoca who was then able to defuse kept his team in the running early in the decider. Stopping another B rush and a play in mid, Space Soldiers evened it out at 6-6. Finally, eXtatus were able to take the lead into the half, albeit just barely, 8-7.

The second pistol round went the way of eXtatus as frozen played a huge role on the retake with three kills, and were able to win against a pistol buy thanks to Martin "⁠MonttY⁠" Melišek sticking a defuse in a 1vs1 against paz. Having planted both rounds, Space Soldiers bought on the third, and a 1vs2 by XANTARES kept Space Soldiers close, 8-10.

Finally, Space Soldiers took the lead in the late stretch of the three-map bout, taking advantage of the holes in eXtatus’s defense, but eXtatus were able to tie it back up, 12-12, with a heroic defense with the AWP by frozen on the B site. After losing the lead, Space Soldiers took a timeout, and with a late B plant and defense, were able to once again bring the match to a tie. Ultimately, though, Space Soldiers were able to win it as Buğra "⁠Calyx⁠" Arkın planted and won the last 1vs1 of the match to close Inferno out 16-13.

ESEA Season 26 MDL Global ChallengeBest of 3

eXtatus

Matchpage

1

2

6th January 2018

Space Soldiers

16

Overpass

12

9

Mirage

16

13

Inferno

16

eXtatus	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
David 'frozen' Čerňanskýfrozen	67 - 59	+8	84.3	1.18
Martin 'MonttY' MelišekMonttY	57 - 53	+4	70.0	1.05
Jindřich 'ZEDKO' ChybaZEDKO	61 - 63	-2	84.2	1.03
Patrik 'DEV7L' StuchlíkDEV7L	49 - 58	-9	68.6	0.96
Richard 'queztone' Strnátkoqueztone	43 - 58	-15	65.1	0.86

Space Soldiers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşXANTARES	57 - 61	-4	91.9	1.21
Buğra 'Calyx' ArkınCalyx	67 - 52	+15	80.2	1.19
Ahmet 'paz' Karahocapaz	62 - 56	+6	82.7	1.14
Engin 'ngiN' KorngiN	54 - 51	+3	64.6	1.03
Engin 'MAJ3R' KüpeliMAJ3R	49 - 57	-8	69.7	0.95