ESL Challenger February group stage concludes

All three teams from the Americas have advanced to the playoffs.

The group stage for ESL Challenger February has concluded, with Virtus.pro, 9z, FURIA, and Complexity all advancing to the playoffs, which will take place on Sunday.

For the teams who advanced from their groups in first place, it was a straightforward affair. Both Virtus.pro and FURIA were the heavy favorites going into the event and had little trouble winning both best of ones needed to move on from the GSL groups. The closest of the four matches was the first for the CIS side, where the South American representatives took Virtus.pro to a full 30 round game.

saffee had no trouble against ORDER or HEET

After being knocked down to the elimination match, 9z took down both Dignitas and Movistar Riders in consecutive series to put themselves into the playoffs. Surprising results against European competition, as 9z fielded a roster in 2021 that famously took down Vitality at the BLAST Spring Showdown. Although Franco "⁠dgt⁠" Garcia and Maximiliano "⁠max⁠" Gonzalez remain from that lineup, newcomer Luca "⁠Luken⁠" Nadotti stepped up big in both best of threes to put that Argentinian organization through to the next stage.

ESL Challenger February 2022Best of 3 Movistar RidersMatchpage 0 2 12th February 2022 9z 13Mirage 16 17Overpass 19

Much like 9z, Complexity lost their first game against HEET and were sent down to the lower bracket of Group B. There they met ORDER and swiftly dispatched the Oceanic team. Moving onto the decider game, Complexity set up a rematch against the Frenchmen, and went in with a strong start on Vertigo. Despite going into overtime, the North American squad pulled out victory and moved on to Ancient.

Things looked positive after the first half, but Complexity were unable to put up a strong enough defense, and HEET managed to force a third map. Things looked really bad at the start of Inferno, with Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou and co. going down 4-11 on their CT side. However, an incredible Terrorist side spearheaded by Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince allowed Complexity to have a perfect second half and close out map three, winning the series and putting them into the playoffs.

ESL Challenger February 2022Best of 3 HEETMatchpage 1 2 12th February 2022 Complexity 16Vertigo 19 16Ancient 12 11Inferno 16

Here are the two semifinal matches set for Sunday:

14:00 FURIA vs 9z
17:15 Virtus.pro vs. Complexity

9z #46 Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezFranco 'dgt' GarciaLuca 'Luken' NadottiMartin 'rox' MolinaDavid 'dav1deuS' Tapia Maldonado Michael 'Grim' Wince Age: 21 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 832 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.68 Luca 'Luken' Nadotti Age: 24 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 245 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.64 Virtus.pro #5 Timur 'buster' TulepovEvgenii 'FL1T' LebedevAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis HEET #18 Alexandre 'bodyy' PianaroLucas 'Lucky' ChastangThomas 'Djoko' PavoniPierre 'Ex3rcice' BulingeAurélien 'afro' Drapier ORDER #80 Karlo 'USTILO' PivacJireh 'J1rah' YouakimLuke 'ekul' BlakeyMatthew 'Valiance' HartrickDeclan 'Vexite' Portelli Vitality #3 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou Age: 22 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 1001 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.67 Franco 'dgt' Garcia Age: 20 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 365 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.62 Movistar Riders #23 Alejandro 'alex' MasanetAlejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo CanoRaúl 'DeathZz' Jordán NietoÁlvaro 'SunPayus' GarcíaDavid 'dav1g' Granado Bermudo Dignitas #28 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergAdam 'friberg' FribergJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonHåkon 'hallzerk' FjærliLudvig 'HEAP' Alonso Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez Age: 22 Team: 9z Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 500 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.66 Complexity #29 Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryMichael 'Grim' WincePaytyn 'junior' JohnsonJustin 'FaNg' Coakley FURIA #27 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRafael 'saffee' CostaAndré 'drop' Abreu Time is adjusted to your selected timezone