Zesta's 1.63 rating performance on the decider was not enough to pull ATOX across the line

February 24, 2025 12:15pm

Written by shashank

HOTU stun ATOX

The opening game of the MESA Asian Masters closed qualifier saw invited team ATOX taking on HOTU who cleared the open qualifier. The bo3 started on Nuke with ATOX's MiQ and AccuracyTG propelling the side to a 9-3 advantage on their T-side with ratings 2.52 and 1.76 in the first half.

Pistol and anti-eco wins in the second half pretty much confirmed the map for ATOX as the Mongolian side closed out Nuke 13-3, in a dominant fashion, looking good to drive the series home.

After conceding the pistol and anti-eco rounds on the T-side of Mirage, HOTU came out all guns blazing in the buy rounds, toppling the CT-defense to secure an 8-4 advantage in the first half. ATOX also displayed a strong T-side, closing the gap straight out the gate with four rounds in a row but round for round trades thereafter, saw HOTU emerge on top, thanks to their lead in the first half. HOTU closed Mirage 13-10, pushing the series into the decider.

Ancient started with back and forth trades but once the dust settled, ATOX blazed ahead with five rounds in a row as Zesta and dobu, ran through HOTU's defenses. The Russian side recovered towards the end but ATOX still finished the half 7-5 in their favor. Once the sides switched, there was no looking back as HOTU put up a near flawless T-side, dropping just a single round to close out the map 13-8 and reverse sweep the series 1-2 after conceding a crushing defeat in the first map.

ATOX will head down to the lower bracket and HOTU await their opponent in the upper-bracket semi-finals.

MESA Asian Masters 2025 Asia Closed Qualifier

Bo3

ATOX

1 - 2

HOTU

All maps

ATOX	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 2.1
Munkhsaikhan 'Zesta' Erdenebaatar	48 - 40	+8	81.3	76.7%	1.20
Temuulen 'MiQ' Byambadalai	46 - 43	+3	83.8	61.7%	1.17
Otgonlhagva 'AccuracyTG' Batjargal	46 - 43	+3	77.9	73.3%	1.09
Gan-Erdene 'dobu' Batbold	36 - 43	-7	68.1	68.3%	0.93
Bat-Enkh 'kabal' Batbayar	34 - 44	-10	68.4	60.0%	0.80

HOTU	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 2.1
Anatoliy 'youka' Aprosimov	52 - 37	+15	76.4	80.0%	1.26
Aidos 'kade0' Khairzhan	48 - 37	+11	86.7	75.0%	1.22
Dmitry 'mizu' Kondratev	40 - 46	-6	80.3	60.0%	0.97
Daniil 'Re1GN' Chekanin	38 - 50	-12	79.9	75.0%	0.95
Mark 'lampada' Ivanov	34 - 41	-7	72.1	68.3%	0.93