Windigo, BIG, Spirit earn MDL LAN spots; close in on EPL

ESEA MDL Season 27 Europe has reached the end of its online stage, with three squads qualifying for ESEA MDL Global Challenge LAN and having a chance at making the next season of ESL Pro League.

Windigo was one of the standout teams through the regular season, finishing tied-first with Kinguin, having 11 wins and five losses to their name. In the playoffs, the Bulgarians took a fairly straightforward win against Sprout in the quarter-final before pulling off a massive comeback on the decider against Virtus.pro, Train. Windigo was 11-4 down on the Terrorist side, but still secured a 16-14 to win the series and finish top two in the playoffs.

bubble's squad is one win away from qualifying for ESL Pro League

bubble's squad is one win away from qualifying for ESL Pro League

Joining them at the top is BIG, who dropped one map to EnVyUs Academy in the first playoff match, but swept the following two to eliminate the French side. After that, Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik's team took down Spirit 2-0 (16-12 Inferno, 16-10 Overpass), securing a top finish.

BIG and Windigo therefore qualified for the ESEA MDL Global Challenge LAN, where they will also play the final match of the regular season. The winner of that match will earn direct promotion to ESL Pro League Season 8, while the loser will play the ESL Pro League S7 Relegation.

The last place at the Global Challenge LAN and the last spot in the ESL Pro League S7 Relegation tournament was decided between Spirit and Virtus.pro today. The Russian squad was off to a good start on Inferno, taking the 6-1 lead as Terrorists before Virtus.pro struck back to finish the first half 8-7 up.

Spirit claimed another pistol to hit the ground running in the second half, quickly grabbing a 15-10 lead which they converted into a 16-13 victory.

Pavel "⁠COLDYY1⁠" Veklenko and co. kicked off Cobblestone 7-0, but Virtus.pro once again turned the score around to finish their CT side with a minimal, 8-7 lead. However, losing another pistol round to Spirit, who also had Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev put on a masterful performance, meant that Virtus.pro couldn't get back into the game and went down 16-10, 2-0 for the series.

ESEA MDL Season 27 EuropeBest of 3 Virtus.proMatchpage 0 2 5th April 2018 Spirit 13Inferno 16 10Cobblestone 16

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	41 - 39	+2	76.0	1.02
Michał 'MICHU' MüllerMICHU	35 - 41	-6	70.7	0.97
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	34 - 38	-4	69.6	0.92
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	30 - 38	-8	58.7	0.79
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	22 - 42	-20	68.9	0.71

Spirit	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhevsdy	51 - 30	+21	97.3	1.55
Pavel 'COLDYY1' VeklenkoCOLDYY1	51 - 35	+16	88.4	1.34
Dmitriy 'Dimaoneshot' BandurkaDimaoneshot	39 - 35	+4	82.4	1.17
Dmitry 'S0tF1k' ForostyankoS0tF1k	32 - 34	-2	62.8	0.95
Vadim 'DavCost' VasilyevDavCost	25 - 28	-3	47.5	0.94

With these results, all three of Spirit, BIG and Windigo have a shot of making the next season of ESL Pro League, but the latter two teams can make it either by winning ESEA MDL S27 in the final, offline game, or by going through ESL Pro League S7 Relegation, where they will face the 12th and 13th placed ESL Pro League team and Spirit.

On the other hand, Virtus.pro and the remaining teams will have to wait until ESEA MDL S29 to have a chance to qualify for ESL Pro League, as ESEA MDL S28 happens between two ESL Pro League seasons and doesn't have the promotion aspect.

Out of the 27 teams in ESEA MDL S27, eight reached playoffs and finished in the following order:

1-2. Windigo - S27 Global Challenge LAN, MDL Season 27 Grand Finals
1-2. BIG - S27 Global Challenge LAN, MDL Season 27 Grand Finals
3. Spirit - S27 Global Challenge LAN, ESL Pro League S7 Relegation
4. Virtus.pro - $2,500
5-8. Sprout
5-8. Asterion
5-8. EnVyUs Academy
5-8. Kinguin

Asterion #96 Oliver 'oW^' WintherHugo 'Xaisty' LindvallNoah 'buue' Nethanel TürnpuEnzo 'Fearoth' MestariSøren 'RandomRambo' Jensen Windigo #25 Nikolay 'pNshr' PauninKamen 'bubble' KostadinovViktor 'v1c7oR' DyankovTeodor 'SPELLAN' NikolovGeorgi 'SHiPZ' Grigorov Virtus.pro #11 Filip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiJanusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'byali' BielińskiMichał 'MICHU' Müller Fatih 'gob b' Dayik Age: 30 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 0.85 Maps played: 751 KPR: 0.56 DPR: 0.67 Sprout #33 Paweł 'innocent' MocekKevin 'kRYSTAL' AmendTimo 'Spiidi' RichterDenis 'denis' HowellNiels Christian 'NaToSaphiX' Sillassen BIG #27 Fatih 'gob b' DayikJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschJohannes 'nex' Maget Viktor 'sdy' Orudzhev Age: 21 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 144 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.64 Pavel 'COLDYY1' Veklenko Age: 25 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 628 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 Spirit #29 Vadim 'DavCost' VasilyevDmitriy 'Dimaoneshot' BandurkaDmitry 'S0tF1k' ForostyankoPavel 'COLDYY1' VeklenkoViktor 'sdy' Orudzhev Kinguin #38 Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasJacek 'MINISE' JeziakKarol 'rallen' RodowiczPaweł 'reatz' JańczakMikołaj 'mouz' Karolewski EnVyUs Academy #64 Christophe 'SIXER' XiaAudric 'JACKZ' JugLambert 'Lambert' PrigentValentin 'VKLL' BartolomeiJulien 'PetitSkel' Marcantoni