Underdogs ex-MAD LIONS win Republeague S3

REPUBLEAGUE Season 3 has come to an end with an unexpected victory by the the underdog of the tournament ex-MAD LIONS. The international team led by Thomas “TMB” Bundsbæk made it unexpectedly to the top by beating Fnatic in the Grand Final, taking home $75,000 in prize money.

The ex-MAD Lions clinched the REPUBLEAGUE Season 3 title after quite a surprise run. The team, who were definitely not the favourites of the competition, overtook several other big names and showed what they’re made of.

Having recently lost Viktor “sdy” Orudzhev who’s stepping in for Natus Vincere and replaced him with former Team Fiend player Hristiyan “REDSTAR” Pironkov, ex-MAD Lions currently sit in 42nd place in the world’s rankings. The team is the fifth-lowest of the 16 teams that made an appearance at the tournament, yet they surprised everyone with their performance.

Here’s the victorious ex-MAD LIONS line-up:

• Thomas “TMB” Bundsbæk
• Hristiyan “REDSTAR” Pironkov
• Volodymyr “Woro2k” Veletniuk
• Justinas “ jL” Lekavicius
• Christian “buzz” Andersen

Ex-MAD LIONS provide massive upsets to their opponents 

On their way to the Grand Final, x-MAD LIONS defeated Eternal Fire twice, along with upsetting MOUZ NXT, Bad News Eagles, K23, Imperial, Entropiq and forZe. Among the defeated teams were also ECSTATIC — a team that is currently embroiled in a major controversy.

Specifically, Bad News Eagles’ Flatron “juanflatroo” Halimi has recently suggested that ECSTATIC may have cheated, while several other players have expressed similar concerns. ECSTATIC has denied everything, calling the allegations “disrespectful”.

Fnatic crushed in Grand Final

In the title decider match, ex-MAD Lions faced the new Fnatic team who made their debut with Ludvig “HEAP” Alonso. They defeated Fnatic largely thanks to 20-year-old Volodymyr “Woro2k” Veletniuk, who led an incredible comeback from a 12:0 deficit on Mirage’s T-side.

The Ukrainian showed a great performance and was also the leading man in the crucial Ancient win. Thanks to his defensive comeback performance on Overpass, he helped his team win and earned an average rating of 1.51.

Here are the final standings of REPUBLEAGUE Season 3:

• 1. ex-MAD Lions
• 2. Fnatic
• 3. Bad News Eagles
• 4. ECSTATIC
• 5-6. forZe
• 5-6. MOUZ NXT
• 7-8. ENTERPRISE Esports
• 7-8. Eternal Fire
• 9-12. Team Finest
• 9-12. SINNERS Esports
• 9-12. Entropiq
• 9-12. K23
• 13-16. Imperial Esports
• 13-16.1win
• 13-16. Into the Breach
• 13-16. Sprout

The competition organized by Slovak tournament organizer REPUBLEAGE featured a total prize pool of $128,300 distributed among the top four teams. While first place earned $75,000, second-placed Fnatic earned $32,000, The Bad News Eagles in third place took home $16,000 and the fourth-placed ECSTATIC took home $5,300.

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