ESL Challenger Melbourne 2024 — The Bish Bash Bosh

G’day mates, welcome to Down Under to ESL Challenger Melbourne where three Australians and five drongos from other parts of the world fight over one ESL Pro League spot.

This tournament has a weaker field because all the other teams that normally would come down here for an easy spot decided to fly to Malta instead. Must be a summer vacation or something. Also, Flyquest and BNK decided to fly over too. A bit early for Summer and we have better beaches in Australia….

The Groups

Group A

A quick summary of this group would be this, oh god help Party Astronauts and Sunday School. You get the two teams that are in the upper echleons of tier 2 and chomping at the bit for an ESL Pro League spot.

Apeks

I have no idea how Apeks drew the Number 1 seed but I can only conclude it is due to their ESL Ranking. Apeks have been looking quite inconsistent recently. Their performance has definitely been below what it used to be but that is mostly due to kyxsan and jL being poached to Heroic and Navi respectively.

Apeks have been incredibly inconsistent under sense and have lost so many rounds due to sloppy play. A few of the games I’ve casted, they’ve lost the bomb on T side in horrible locations and seemingly rely on trick plays quite a bit. They also lack the stamina to go deep in a series, they have a great first map then just go along on fumes. However, these issues are being resolved over time and we can probably put them down to teething issues.

Pros: They have the experience, they have the quality and they have the hunger.

Cons: You can have all of the above but with the head of the hydra doesn’t know what it is doing. It is essentially going headfirst into failure

Bosh: Apeks will make it to the Semi-Finals. Where they end up whether it is 1st or 2nd will determine if they make the Grand Finals. I do not like their chances if they face MIBR.

Aurora

If you ever want to see a team that is overlooked and underrated based on their seeding number. This is the team. Aurora have shown stunning results by beating OG to win Skyesports Masters, making it to Betboom Dacha via the European qualifiers and taking down NIP (ok, maybe this isn’t hard) to make the Dreamhack Summer.

This is a team staking its claim and it is leaving none of it to chance. They are taking down struggling T1 teams and rising T2 teams in its wake. It is an absolute spartan of a team. They don’t care about the star players that a team has, they only care whether it can bleed. Because if it can bleed, it can be killed.

Pros: Deko is the star player to look out for but Kensi, Norwi, r3salt and Lack1 provide immense firepower in the rifling core. This team shine consistency in all facets and are only brimming in confidence.

Cons: Ever heard of the term, pride before the fall? Their overconfidence could be their undoing. Look at their EWC results against Ruby. A crushing 13–11 loss. Also, it’ll be a tough BO3 if they face Rebels which can be extremely likely.

Bosh: Aurora will make the grand final. I have every confidence that they will finish top of their group. Only Jet Lag can kill them now.

Party Astronauts

Hello, Party Astronauts, welcome to Australia. Oh, you got put in a group with Apeks and Aurora. Well, that sucks. Looks like NA really does stand for Nearest Airport.

Enough with the jokes. Party Astronauts have some great upcoming players and some amazing veterans to boot. Infact, they have one of the best veterans in Rush. Rush is an experienced, cool-headed individual who will do anything that is needed for the team to win. You read that correctly.

They do have wolfY, cxzi, chop and ben with plenty of tier 1 experience. The downside was that most of it was in teams that barely made it far at all. Only grabbing the scraps at the table. Rush is the only person that has made deep runs and won it all with Cloud 9.

Pros: They have some experience at the Tier 1 level and they have Rush who can apply himself to many situations.

Cons: Their experience is extremely limited and they’re in a group where there are only 2 spots to qualify and they’re participating with 2 teams that can make deep runs. Those 2 teams also outclass them considerably

Bosh: Eliminated in the decider — I do not see them getting past Aurora or Apeks. Even if they beat Aurora in a BO1 — they are not beating them when they come back up in a BO3.

Sunday School

I sometimes wonder if I should go through this team or not. This team is going home early. This team has already been picked apart for its pieces in the domestic scene. This team doesn’t practice together, doesn’t play together, they’re also hopelessly outclassed.

This would make a perfect underdog story but the problem is that most of those underdog stories involve Hard Work. I certainly hope they’ve been doing that otherwise I cannot see them upsetting Apeks and I certainly don’t see them beating Party Astronauts/Aurora in a BO3 either.

They have 4 players announced so far and we’re unsure on the 5th player. They do have guag, Liki (former LFO IGL), mizzy and rekonz at the moment. I don’t think their 5th matters too much.

I honestly do appreciate guag, Liki, mizzy and rekonz. Liki was served very roughly in being thrusted as the IGL in LFO. Guag has never played ESEA Premier despite leading many teams in doing so. Mizzy has been moving through teams. rekonz is probably the only player who has carved a path for himself currently.

Pros: Nobody knows about them and I doubt many of the teams will study too much on them. The element of surprise is there.

Cons: Everything else isn’t there though. The players, the teamwork, their map pool. Just everything is unproven.

Bosh: They’ll go out with nothing but a whimper.

Group B

Now, we got Group A out of the way which pretty much stands for Apeks and Aurora. We get to go to Group B. As much of the doom and gloom was the story in Group A. Group B might have a different story.

MIBR

This is the team that you have to beat to make ESL Pro League. This team is the big kahuna — the favourites. Lead by exit and he has bunch of young blasters who have been on an incredible win streak in Brazil. You can probably say but they’re only winning against local teams and the teams here will be much better.

I would probably disagree with that given that they’ve consistently beaten pain and Imperial in BO3s, the strongest teams in the region. I believe pain and Imperial are up there with Apeks and Aurora personally.

MIBR have a lot of pressure on them because this is likely going to be their easiest shot at getting into ESL Pro League and that includes trying to get a spot through ESL Challenger!

Pros: MIBR are on an absolute streak. Thanks to napr who pointed out that they have won 30 series in a row if you exclude their loss to Fluxo. MIBR have consistently beaten the top team in the regions

Cons: Their Americas RMR performance was ghastly and they have a tendency to be amazing at their peak but absolutely putrid outside of it.

Bosh: Grand Finals, baby! I see that MIBR are going to go strength from strength. The only real challenge in their division will be either from Rebels/Rooster but I don’t see a huge challenge from either.

Rebels

Another Polish team being rebirthed under David De Gea’s Rebels organisation. You may not hear too much about them given that there are a multitude of different polish teams that outclass them. They do have innocent who has been in various teams before but the real player to watch out for is flayy (and no, not Funkmaster Flay).

Coached by Szpero who has been in many different teams including AGO which rocked the scene with Furlan and Gruby.

Rebels made a decent dent in ESEA Premier but were eliminated by funnily enough. Another polish mix team in brazylijski luz — see there are a lot of these polish teams!

Rebels are really an unknown element because they’re in that middling tier of European Counter-Strike. You’re not sure when they’ll take that next step into becoming a worldbeating outfit. You’re not sure if it is now, next month, next year or this event. A team to look at.

Pros: A young polish team with a lot of potential and a high ceiling. This could be their event and given the rosters that they are playing. This could be an easy event for them.

They managed to make IEM Katowice against the likes of M80 and beating Cloud 9. However, that form hasn’t shown too much since. They also took a map off Falcons.

Cons: Despite the big events, overconfidence could be their downfall. If they do not do their study on Rooster or even KZG, they could be going into BO3s that they could have avoided. Also, Jet Lag.

Bosh: They’ll make semi-finals but unfortunately, I reckon it’ll be Aurora that’ll await them. It’ll be a banger series but we’ll know that Aurora will win.

Rooster

If Rooster ever wanted an easy path outside of trying to beat BNK for that 2nd spot from ANZ, this is it. Rooster are that unfortunate team that will be in eternal battle with BNK to make it internationally forever. Their star player is nettik followed quickly by ASAP. Their rifling core is immense backed an extremely talented AWP/IGL of chelleos.

Rooster went to that IEM Katowice Play-in similar to Rebels but unlike the Rebels, they went home. Not only did they get cleaned by Virtus Pro but they were smashed by an IGL-less M80 2–0.

However, since then Rooster have added danger as Rackem quit CS for good. Danger is a great element for the team because Rackem was an awper rather than a rifler. Rackem did great with the rifle but Danger adds that clutch element, the veins of ice and the prowess as a rifler. You can feel in 1 v 2 scenarios are often fraught by Danger as he wins them.

Rooster have continued their streak against BNK since then but the BO3s are continously going back and forth

Pros: With Danger in the roster, Rooster have a bit of a spring in their step. Also, some of the top teams especially Rebel could overlook them. They could be in a bit of a surprise in a BO1. They also have been trying different styles of play as observed previously.

Cons: Rooster desperately need a coach unless JHD has started taking it seriously. I’ve been crowing about this for aeons. JHD is seemingly there for entertainment instead of being a calm and motivating voice for this team.

Especially in a tournament where Rooster are outgunned and outclassed. The guidance will be needed here where they’ll need to beat atleast Rebels in a Bo3 yet alone a Bo1.

Bosh: Going home in a decider against Rebels. I love supporting Rooster but I think Rebels in a Bo3 will be too much for them.

KZG

Hi Tito, you are probably reading this being like “Well, what is blud yapping about today?”. Well, we’re going talk about how your team will be watching the Semi-Finals in the stands on Day 3.

KZG are a replacement for NewHappy because they couldn’t get their VISAs done in time. KZG finished 2nd in the qualifiers losing to Sunday School which places them at being worse than Sunday School on paper.

I’d definitely say they’re not worse than Sunday School because KZG practice, they had a coach and they definitely have a map pool that they can play with. However, KZG just don’t have the players because they lost their star awper, pain to Mindfreak.

They picked up Mingovi as an IGL and put Hassie on the awp but that is equal to putting Perfecto on the awp in Cloud 9. Hassie hasn’t shown too much success with the big green compared to pain. I know i’m being rough on Hassie with this comparison because it is unfair to compare him with pain.

But that is what reality is and he could come better with time and takes a lot of learning to get to that level.

Mingovi has been a specialist IGL especially on Overpass and has led to teams really examining and countering his game plan on it or just banning Overpass in general. If the top teams sleep on this ESPECIALLY in a BO1, KZG could find themselves in the Winner’s match.

Pros: Since KZG were launched in to ESL Challenge Melbourne in the last few days, some teams may not have been doing any study on KZG. They might allow Overpass to be the BO1 map pick because they don’t know about how much of a specialist that Mingovi is on overpass.

Cons: Well, everything else. KZG being launched in could be to their detriment as they probably haven’t come in prepared for MIBR, Rebels and well, they know they’re losing to Rooster. KZG are hopelessly outclassed, underexperienced and underprepared.

Bosh: It’ll be good to hang out with the KZG boys while watching the Grand and Semi-finals in Day 3.

Ending Thoughts

I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it (which is quite a lot).

I feel that either Aurora or MIBR will win this tournament. They are strong favourites followed by Apeks. There are a couple of Dark Horses in Party Astronauts, Rooster and Rebels but I feel the Day 2 and Day 3 BO3s will come down to pure attrition and experience.

Also, I’ll be at ESL Challenger from time to time so don’t be shy to say Hi. I’ll also be weaving around to the speedrunning and the LCO (for my friend, she loves league).

I hope you guys have a lovely time!