ESL Challenger League S45: Monte beat 1win to qualify for Lower Bracket finals

The ESL Challenger League S45 played on the ESEA platform, is ending, and we are very close to finding out which team will join Team Spirit Academy in the tournament’s grand final. Monte and Apeks will fight in the final of the Lower Bracket for a place in the grand final, which will be a rematch of the last two finals of the CCT WEU.

Undoubtedly, it has been a really exciting tournament played since last April 11, 2023, and grants a place for the next ESL Pro League S18. In addition, all this is also showing how the Team Spirit academy team continues at its highest possible level.

Let’s see what happened in the ESL Challenger League S45 Lower Bracket semifinal match.

It’s time for more EU #ESLChallengerLeague Playoff action! @Monte_Esports vs. @1winesports #ESLChallengerLeague
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📺 https://t.co/r3VVKgL15D pic.twitter.com/8pI82OGuTe

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) May 26, 2023

Monte vs. 1win – Game Recap

The ESL Challenger League S45 semifinal was played between Monte and 1win, two teams that played a great tournament but fell in the Upper Bracker semifinals to Spirit Academy and Apeks, respectively.

The series was played at Vertigo (1win), Ancient (Monte), and Mirage (decider).

Vertigo

It all started at Vertigo, 1win’s map pick, where we witnessed an exceptional level from both teams. For 1win, Denis “deko” Zhukov (83.6 ADR and 1.36 Rating) stood out, while for Monte, Sergiy “DemQQ” Demchenko tried to help his team to win.

Monte started their CT side very strong with a very good 9-6 win, which gave them absolute confidence to face the rest of the map. However, at the change of sides, 1win implemented a spectacular defense, which prevented Monte from being able to deploy their offense by all means possible. As a result, 1win pulled out a tight 16-14 victory that put them ahead in the series 1-0.

A strong map for both teams but @1winesports prevail, they take Vertigo 16-14

Up next is Ancient#ESLChallengerLeague
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— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) May 26, 2023

Ancient

In Ancient Monte’s map pick, we witnessed a spectacular level of play from Szymon “kRaSnaL” Mrozek (Monte), who finished the map with 108.2 ADR and a 1.27 Rating.

1win started with everything on their side CT winning the first four rounds of the map. However, Monte woke up and won seven of the next eight rounds played to take a 7-5 lead. Finally, 1win managed to win the last three rounds of the first half to walk away with an 8-7 partial victory.

At the change of sides, 1win quickly took a 12-9 lead. However, this woke up Volodymyr “Woro2k” Veletniuk, who led Monte to a 16-10 win to even the series 1-1.

The reversal comes through as @Monte_Esports secure Ancient 16-13

Our decider is Mirage#ESLChallengerLeague
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— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) May 26, 2023

Mirage

Finally, we moved to Mirage, where we had a very evenly matched game in the first half but was completely dominated by Monte in the second half.

Monte displayed spectacular defense on their CT side in the first half from Mohammad “BOROS” Malhas (125.2 ADR and 1.74 Rating) to take a 9-6 partial win.

At the change of sides, Monte could win the pistol round and, consequently, the next two rounds to put the score in his favor by 12-6. Then, 1win woke up and won three consecutive rounds to close to within 9-12.

Finally, Monte’s aggressive attack was rewarded by winning four consecutive rounds to take the 16-9 map victory and seal their place in the Lower Bracket final.

There was a lot of clicking heads and @Monte_Esports clicked more as they closed out Mirage 16-9 and take the series 2-1#ESLChallengerLeague pic.twitter.com/S6em8PXWOI

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) May 26, 2023

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