Lynn Vision send 9INE home in Malta

9INE exit the Maltese tournament in last place after a disappointing performance.

Lynn Vision defeated 9INE in the last-place decider of ESL Pro League S18 to condemn the Polish side to an early exit in the Maltese tournament. The Chinese side won Anubis (16-10) and Overpass (22-20) on either side of a loss on 9INE's pick of Vertigo (10-16).

The Chinese side require two straight victories on Sunday if they wish to qualify for playoffs, with their first test coming against the loser of Virtus.pro vs. Liquid.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
24/09/2023	Lynn Vision 12:30 Liquid	Match

An ecstatic Dai "Gum" Yifei, the coach of Lynn Vision, couldn't hide his pride after their victory. "We never gave up, we knew our game plan was very good. We already had the match point, and we believed we could win the match."

"This team, the atmosphere is very good. When we have close games, our mental state is better than other Chinese teams," said the tactician after his team came back from 11-15 down to close out the decider in the second overtime.

For 9INE, this is a disappointing end to their EPL campaign. The Polish side only won two maps, both on Vertigo, against Complexity and Lynn Vision. Olek "⁠hades⁠" Miskiewicz will also do well to forget his miss on the decider, as the round eventually cost 9INE their tournament lives.

The series started on Anubis, and it was one-way traffic in the first half of the Egypt-themed map. Lynn Vision won the first half 11-4, with three of 9INE's four rounds coming from their pistol-round win and following conversion. Lizhi "⁠Starry⁠" Ye was pivotal in his side's performance, as he found success in Middle time after time and put up 17 kills in the first half. Once at 13 rounds, the Chinese side struggled somewhat and allowed 9INE to reach double digits, but Lynn Vision stood strong and closed out the map 16-10.

Vertigo was expectedly the pick of 9INE, who have made quite the name for themselves on the map. Lynn Vision were able to come back from 3-7 down and got within three rounds of their opponents as the sides switched. A second-round pistol victory tied up the scores at ten, but the Chinese side couldn't keep up the momentum and lost the map 10-16 after a six-round streak by 9INE.

Overpass was the decider, and Lynn Vision came prepared for their T-side. Starry and Sike "⁠z4kr⁠" Zhang were instrumental in their success and found several openings and multi-kills that helped their squad secure seven rounds on the offense. The second half was equally as close, as Dongkai "⁠Jee⁠" Ji's 1vs2 Scout clutch rallied his team, who came back from 11-15 down to force out overtime. Lynn Vision converted their fourth match point and will no doubt count their lucky stars after hades' miss in the penultimate round gifted them a golden chance to win the match.