THE, Rare Atom head to ECL S49

ESL Challenger League Season 48 Relegation: Asia recently concluded with two teams locked in for the upcoming ESL Challenger League iteration (Season 49). The upper bracket final featured THE and Rare Atom, both of whom started in the first stage while FengDa Gaming sat in the lower bracket awaiting their opponent after their opening round loss against Rare Atom.

Upper-bracket final

Rare Atom vs THE

The first map of the upper bracket final took us to Dust2 where THE started on the T-side and managed to recover after a slow start, tying things up at 6-6. A phenomenal T-side showing from Summer, stole the show as THE could only secure a couple of rounds, netting Rare Atom a comfortable 13-8 win to go 1-0 up in the series.

THE never really found the right timings on their CT-side, often over-rotating and falling prey to Summer's masterful positioning. Summer's 127 ADR performance on Dust2 saw the Chinese rifler drop 29 frags which included a couple of triple kills and a quad kill round.

The second map took us to Vertigo where both teams displayed strong CT-side protocols as THE went from being down 4-8 to pushing the map into overtime. A neck to neck overtime saw Rare Atom run away with the lead at the last moment, closing out Vertigo with the slightest of margins at 16-14.

Lower-bracket final

THE vs FengDa Gaming

After conceding the upper-bracket final against Rare Atom, THE's second shot at an ECL spot came in the lower bracket final where they were up against FengDa Gaming. Starting on Dust2, FengDa Gaming got off to a shaky start but recovered in time to turn the tables and take an 8-4 lead in the first start.

THE took the pistol and anti-eco in the second half but once the gun rounds began, FengDa Gaming regained their momentum to stroll across the line 13-7 to go 1-0 up in the series, now just a single map win away from securing their ESL Challenger League Season 49 slot.

The second map took us to Anubis where FengDa Gaming started on the CT-side with a 5-7 half, setting themselves up for the stronger side in the next half but THE also displayed a strong CT-side, going round for round till the end, resulting in THE edging out FengDa Gaming with a 13-11 score line, pushing the series into the decider.

Going into Mirage, it was anyone's game with neither of these teams building up any momentum for themselves towards the end of Anubis. Starting on the T-side, FengDa Gaming once again finished the half with a 5-7 deficit. THE once again capitalized on this slight advantage and their pistol round win in the second half added to it.

THE dropped just three rounds in the second half, closing out Mirage 13-8 and reverse sweeping the series 2-1 to take down FengDa Gaming and book their ESL Challenger League Season 49 slot alongside Rare Atom.