SLAKE got off to a less-than-ideal start in the 54th season of ESEA Main, suffering two defeats. You can find more information about these two matches in this article (click here to be redirected). Since then, they’ve played three matches – how did our partners get on? The SLAKE players could quote the famous Polish one-man band, Walaszek: “We gave it our all – 30%.”
Taking the matter seriously, however, this is SLAKE’s first season in ESEA Main. What’s more, the organisation faced considerable squad-related issues before the start of the season. The Hussars also faced such issues and decided to pull out of this season’s ESEA. Here, though, we see the SLAKE players’ fighting spirit and desire to gain new experience.
It was a close call…
It was a close call, and SLAKE were on the verge of winning this match. In the third round, they faced REAL esports. The Russian team had had the same start as our partner – a rather disastrous one. The match was played on the Polish map, Mirage. After the first half, our partner were leading 7–5. In the second half, the opponents fought back, and we were treated to an overtime.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go quite so well in the overtime, although SLAKE put up a good fight. They were just one round short of a second overtime, but there has to be a line somewhere that determines the winner. On an individual level, bunnyhug and Paffcio stood out slightly from the rest of their teammates. The former had 26 eliminations and 19 deaths, giving him a KD ratio of 1.37. Paffcio’s stats were slightly worse, but he still made the second-biggest impact for his team, with 23 eliminations, 21 deaths and a KD ratio of 1.1.
LUX Esport
After such a gruelling match, SLAKE moved on to Nuke, where LUX Esport awaited them. The Dutch team had the same record as REAL esports before their match against SLAKE: 0–2. Just as in the match on Rosjan, SLAKE won the first half 7–5. The second half, however, was not the same as in the previous match. SLAKE lost only two rounds, winning Nuke 13–7.
On an individual level, every SLAKE player performed consistently. In any case, results like these rarely feature a single player who dominates the entire match. The opposing team also played ‘consistently’, but in their case it was more a case of being consistently poor, and SLAKE claim their first victory of this ESEA Main season.
Overpass
During the season, ESEA/faceit decided it would be a good idea to add Overpass to the map pool; it had been reinstated fairly recently. Their opponents in Round 5 were the Finnish side Rcave. Prior to this match, the Finns had the same record as SLAKE: one win and three defeats. The match itself, however, told a different story, as the Finns were at least a level above SLAKE on Overpass.
The first half ended 4–8. SLAKE had to make up ground in the second half, but unfortunately they only managed to win one round, which ultimately resulted in a 5–13 defeat. Interestingly, during the ban phase, SLAKE had the choice of dropping either Mirage or Overpass. It seems, however, that the team’s players still need to practise on this map. Rome wasn’t built in a day, was it?
Postponed match
We previously reported on a potential Faceit error regarding one of SLAKE’s matches, which was scheduled for 2 September. Upon closer examination of the situation, it appears the matches have simply been postponed. You can find out more on ESEA’s Twitter account from two days ago. From the latest tweets, it is clear that all matches in the ESEA League (Main, Intermediate, etc.) in Europe have been rescheduled.
ESEA has rescheduled these matches so that they will be played as the final rounds, although they can be played at any point during the group stage. Team captains must agree on a mutually convenient date. At the moment, however, we do not know who SLAKE were due to face apart from this round, as opponents have not yet been drawn – likely due to this postponement. All the confusion surrounding these ESEA matches is due to the Counter-Strike 2 update, which reportedly changes a lot of aspects relating to configuration, coding and server management in Counter-Strike 2 – or at least that’s what we’ve heard.
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