ESL Pro League S17: paiN Gaming qualifies for playoffs, and NiP eliminates OG Esports

After an action-packed fourth day in the ESL Pro League S17, Brazil’s paiN Gaming became the third team to qualify for the Group C playoffs. On the other hand, NiP managed to send OG Esports home by defeating them in the Lower Bracket semifinals.

We have enjoyed a spectacular Group C, where every team works their butts off to qualify for the playoffs. This time, the Brazilians made it through against all odds to join FaZe Clan and Team Vitality as the qualifiers for this group.

paiN Gaming qualifies by beating Grayhound

As mentioned, the Brazilians managed to have a spectacular series against Grayhound and took a 1-2 victory with a reverse sweep to qualify for the ESL Pro League S17 playoffs.

The Mid Bracket Final was played at Inferno (Grayhound), Nuke (paiN Gaming), and Anubis (decisive).

Inferno

Simon “Sico” Williams had one of the most spectacular maps in his entire career as a professional in a tournament at the highest competitive level. The Australian charged his team to a 16-7 victory and finished with exceptional stats of 100.5 ADR and a 1.67 Rating, according to HLTV. While the team was always on top of the Brazilians, and everyone contributed a little something to the victory, Sico was phenomenal in each of his bouts.

Nuke

After seeing the first map, everything seemed to indicate that the Australians had found a way to hurt paiN in this series. However, the Brazilians responded immediately, and with the help of Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt, they managed to put an end to Grayhound’s hopes on this second map.

The first half ended with an even 8-7 in favor of the Australians on the CT side. But, on their side, T could not make more than four rounds thanks to the spectacular defense deployed by the Brazilians and ended up falling with a score of 12-16.

Anubis

We come to the one that defines it all, the third and last map, Anubis. But, first, we must highlight that paiN Gaming surprised everyone by winning 11 rounds on the T-side, of which six of them were followed by two consecutive rounds won by Grayhound.

In the second half, Felipe “skullz” Medeiros put on his team’s #10 jersey and, with 113.3 ADR and an impressive 2.06 Rating, led paiN Gaming to the 16-12 victory to become the third-place finisher in Group C.

With a reverse sweep, 00 Nation stays alive in ESL Pro League S17

The other Brazilian team in this Group C, 00 Nation, also applied a reverse sweep to take the victory over Rooster and continue with hopes of qualifying for the playoffs.

The series was played at Anubis (Rooster), Inferno (00 Nation), and Mirage (decisive).

Anubis

Rooster always showed why Anubis was their Mappick in this series, as they achieved an extraordinary victory in the first half, 12-3 of the T-Side. This left the Brazilians in intensive care, and they had to win 13 rounds to turn the score around and take the victory. Finally, this did not happen, and Rooster won the first four rounds of the second half to take the map with a score of 16-3.

Inferno

In Inferno, the story was going to be the same, as Rooster started as a real beast overwhelming the Brazilians who could not find a way to stop the advances of the Australians. Unfortunately, the first half ended again with a crushing score of 12-3 in favor of Rooster, which left them just four rounds away from victory.

However, the Brazilians woke up thanks to Eduardo “dumau” Wolkmer on the T-side to take the victory after winning nine consecutive rounds and thus forcing the third and decisive map.

Mirage

The third map was heart-stopping and exciting, just as a decisive map deserves in such an instance. 00 Nation started winning nine rounds of the CT Side on Mirage, which gave them the confidence they didn’t have in the series’ first two games. Marcelo “coldzera” David finally woke up and helped his team to go to the side change with this three-round lead.

In the second half, Bruno “latto” Rebelatto wreaked havoc with Rooster’s defense to win the remaining seven rounds and take the victory with an excellent score of 16-12.

At this moment, 00 Nation is playing against Grayhound to fight with NiP for fourth place in the ESL Pro League S17 Group C playoffs.

NiP crushes OG Esports and sends them home

NiP, who came into the Lower Bracket of Group C with a big blow after losing unexpectedly to Grayhound in the Mid Bracket, managed to turn their situation around and crushed OG Esports in the Lower Bracket semifinals.

The series was played at Vertigo (NiP) and Mirage (OG Esports).

Vertigo

OG Esports took the initiative in Vertigo, and they took advantage of how strong the CT side was on this map to go ahead in the first half with a score of 10-5. However, NiP showed why Vertigo was their selection for the first map, as with ten consecutive rounds won on the CT side, they managed to take an extraordinary 16-11 victory. In addition, niP showed a truly spectacular collective game with four of their five players with over 1.40 Ratings.

Mirage

We lived an exact match in Mirage for NiP to take the victory and continue with life in this ESL Pro League S17.

OG Esports started with an excellent first half on the T side with a partial victory of 9-6. However, NiP applied exactly the same dose in the second half and sent the match to Overtime after an extraordinary 15-15.

Finally, in the Overtime, it was NiP that, after a tireless battle, managed to take the victory 22-18 to be seeded in the grand final of the Lower Bracket and play the pass to the playoffs against the winner between 00 Nation and Grayhound.

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