The South Australian city of Adelaide was the location for the recently completed finals of Season 10 of the CyberGamer Pro League as Chiefs eSports Club dropped only a single game (during the LAN portion) on their way to being crowned champions.
Chiefs start strongly, but then wobble
After finishing the Round Robin phase in first place with a 5-2-0 record, the Chiefs squared off against Legacy eSports in the Winners’ Bracket semifinals. The best-of-one was played on Nuke, where the Chiefs struggled to establish themselves early on as they dropped eight of the first 11 rounds before closing out the half with a 4-0 run.
Carrying that momentum into the CT side, the Chiefs secured seven of the first eight rounds. The Chiefs lost three more rounds as Legacy closed to within striking distance before the Round Robin winners claimed two final rounds to give themselves a 16-12 victory.
In the Winners’ Bracket Finals, the Chiefs faced off against Avant Garde on Train after AG had decimated Team Immunity 16-5 in the semis. Once again the Chiefs started off slowly, only amassing four rounds on their CT side. While the Chiefs bounced back in the second half to make it a competitive game, Avant Garde did just enough to pull off a 16-13 victory. Even in defeat INS had a stand out performance for the Chiefs, finishing with a 24/3/18 (K/A/D) record.
Chiefs crush Team Immunity
Losing against Avant Garde pushed the Chiefs into the Losers’ Bracket Finals, where they faced Team Immunity.
This best-of-three opened on Overpass, where the Chiefs put in a devastating performance. Picking up 13 rounds on the CT side, the Chiefs continually shut down any advances Team Immunity attempted to make. The Chiefs then secured the second half pistol round along with the following two, giving them the Game One victory. aliStair and tucks had incredible performances for the Chiefs, posting 22 and 25 kills respectively in just 18 rounds.
The map for Game Two was Train, but the outcome was far from the Chiefs’ 13-16 loss to Avant Garde in the previous encounter as they secured 11 rounds in the first half to give themselves a dominating lead heading into their CT side. The Chiefs then only slipped up in the fourth round of the second half, securing the other five to give themselves a quick and clean 16-5 victory and a place in the Grand Finals. Once again INS had a stand out performance on Train, this time to the tune of 25 kills, 5 assists and 10 deaths in just 21 rounds.
Rematch with Avant Garde
The Grand Finals for Chiefs saw a rematch against the only team that had beaten them previously; Avant Garde.
The first map was Nuke, which saw an incredibly back-and-forth first half. After winning the pistol and the following two rounds, the Chiefs dropped six of the next seven. The Chiefs quickly recovered, however, securing four of the last five rounds to give themselves an 8-7 lead at halftime.
The CT side for the Chiefs was a different story as they completely dominated Avant Garde. Avant secured only two bomb plants during the entirety of the half as the Chiefs won eight of nine rounds to claim map one. Surprisingly at the top of the kill score chart for Nuke was Malta, a player who had struggled to stand out during the majority of the tournament thus far.
The second map, Mirage, played out in a counter-intuitive fashion. Both teams found success on their T side, a shocking development given the tendency for CTs to obtain 9-10 rounds consistently. Avant Garde claimed the first half 10-5 but the Chiefs found even more success on their own T side. The Chiefs dropped only a single round on their way to a second half rout, securing the championship in the process.
In totality Chiefs eSports Club only dropped one game during the LAN segment of the season, leaving little doubt over their supremacy. The biggest strength for the Chiefs is their consistency as INS, tucks, Malta, aliStair and pecks all played well throughout the tournament. Expect them to enjoy further success as the year progresses.
