Wrapping up Evetech Champions League Season 3

The Evetech Champions League Season 3 has drawn to a close with Goliath Gaming taking gold. It was a fantastic five weeks with huge amounts of entertainment on display. 

Mom, I’m on TV! 

What separated this season from all previous online leagues in South Africa was the fact that every match was broadcast live to television on GinxTV Africa. This was a major announcement, an opportunity to showcase local CS:GO to the masses. It certainly created a buzz across the local CS scene heading into the season, with 83 teams registering being a testament to that.

The competition, hosted by Game Time Media and sponsored by Evetech and Lenovo Legion, began with an open qualifier from which six teams would progress. The six teams who progressed to the main event were Goliath Gaming, Sinister5, Energy Esports, Big5 Esports, Gravity Gaming and Team ex-Astris Criminals. 

Image courtesy of Evetech.

The Format 

The competition comprised of four matches each weekend. The round robin stage made up the first four weekends with the playoffs taking place on the last weekend. Each team played each other in a best of 2 series with two points being awarded for a win and one for a draw. 

The round robin stage was packed with fierce competition.The first upset came as early as the first weekend with Gravity Gaming beating Sinister5. This set the tone, no one could be taken lightly. Speaking of Gravity, they had a relatively easy run through the qualifier and a few people were skeptical of their place in the competition. Those doubts were quickly put to bed when they upset Sinister5, took a map off Energy and pushed Big5 the distance on both maps.

After watching them progress through the season I genuinely think they have a good mix of players with high potential. What was particularly impressive was the manner in which they approached each game. They never allowed the magnitude of their opponents to stunt their confidence and desire. Each game they stuck to their game plan and style, whereas often we see teams going into a shell in the same situation. 

Image courtesy of Evetech.

Mid-season Roster Changes

Energy and Sinister5 both made roster changes mid-season. Energy with the double change replacing rAid with THEM4N and a straight swap between kaNibalistic and MisteM. The changes were positive for both teams. 

kaNibalistic added much needed experience and THEM4N’s fragging prowess meant MisteM wasn’t missed drastically in that regard. MisteM added substantial fire power to Sinister5, reducing the responsibility in that department on the rest of the team. Something that’s gone a long way in improving their T halves in particular. 

The changes had an immediate effect on Sinister5, their team looked more balanced and the results had an upturn. After losing their first two matches they won their next three, including the scalps of Goliath Gaming and Big5 Esports. This secured their berth in the playoffs, something which ironically wasn’t a guarantee at one stage.

Energy’s situation was more complex, changing two players basically requires an overhaul across the board. Each players role will be impacted one way or another meaning time is required to get an accurate assessment of how the new team will perform. Having said that I believe the current group have potential to compete at the top level consistently, more so than before. 

By the end of the round robin stage it was Goliath Gaming, Big5 Esports, Sinister5 and Energy Esports who qualified for the playoffs by placing in the top 4. It was only round difference that separated Goliath Gaming and Big5 Esports, the two top seeds heading into the season.  

Image courtesy of Evetech.

Goliath vs Energy: Map 1

Goliath Gaming vs Energy Esports has been a humdinger this year. Both teams have competed in multiple high stakes playoff games against one another. Personally the AWP battle is one of my favourite spectacles in this match between detrony and adm. Goliath possessed the favourites tag this time round, particularly because of the aforementioned roster changes. 

The battle began on Train, Energy’s pick but a map Goliath like to play too. Energy were sitting pretty early in the first half 5-3 up on their T side with their boys looking dialed in. However, those were all the rounds they were able to get in the first half, losing a 4v2 and a 5v3 in the process the half closed out at 5-10. Who knows where Energy may have ended up if they’d converted those rounds.

The second half got off to a good start for Energy with a neat triple kill from THEM4N. From there Energy were able to gain some momentum and restore the confidence picking up six consecutive rounds. With the score at 12-11 in Energy’s favour on the CT side it seemed as if they’d done enough, but that wasn’t the case. Adaro, who had an insane map across the board with 30 frags in total, picked up a triple kill in the round to level it up at 12-12. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. From there Energy’s economy was in turmoil and Goliath marched to victory closing out the map 16-13. 

Goliath vs Energy: Map 2

Next was Overpass, a map we’d barely seen at all up until this point. The map was only picked once out of the 42 maps played in the group stage, with Vertigo nor Nuke making any appearance.

Overpass was a tantalizing prospect, not really knowing what to expect from either team, a black box of sorts. Energy began proceedings on the CT side where they had a solid half. kaNibalistic was popping off in the first half, his AWP was a force to be reckoned with whether it was holding down A or retaking B. In the end Energy managed a score of 11-4 heading into the second half after being up 7-0 at one stage.  

It appeared Energy were on course to win the 2nd map after picking up the pistol and the following two rounds to make it 14-4. It was a short lived success though, as it started to become clear why Goliath decided to choose the map. Once the gun rounds commenced Energy were hapless. It was clear they didn’t have much in their arsenal in the way of strategies and responses on their T side. Goliath on the other side were faultless, constantly changing their setups reading Energy like a picture book. Goliath won 12 consecutive rounds completing a phenomenal comeback closing out the map 16-14. 

To push the best team in South Africa 16-13 and 16-14 is an impressive feat, especially considering the lack of time that Energy had. In the end, it was a team performance that got the Goliath boys into the final. Who their opponents were would be determined in the next match. 

The Marathon Match: Big 5 vs Sin5

Big5 Esports vs Sinister5 was a heck of a game. Spanning a total of four hours it had it all. Clutches, hero plays, comebacks, and heartbreak all jam packed into a three map series. 

First up was Overpass, Sinister5’s pick. It was a hotly contested first half with Big5 showing they’ve also been doing some work on the map. With an 8-7 halftime score Sinister5 would have been content with their T half, the same couldn’t be said about their CT half though. Big5 were blistering in their assault. Aggression mixed with calculation was their approach, and it proved too hot to handle. Big5 won the first map 16-8 and were heading into their map choice, Inferno, with a wealth of confidence. 

Unfortunately for Big5 it didn’t take long before technical difficulties began to haunt them with SlowYe- disconnecting multiple times. Even their coach maniaq had to stand in for a round or two while it was resolved. Sinister5 were ruthless romping to a 10-2 lead in the first half. Big5 were still able to make something of the half though, winning the last three rounds. 

The Sin5 Comeback 

Big5 continued to ride the wave picking up the first six rounds of the second half setting it at 11-10 in their favour. This was a turning point of sorts, Sinister5 had planted the bomb at B but the numbers were heavily favouring Big5 with a 4v2. Flexee and dyvo were rooted in the back of the site, with their backs against the walls they played off each other fantastically both picking up two frags and winning the round. 

From there it was still back and forth but it had reinvigorated Sinister5. Big5 were able to get back to winning ways and even took it as far as 14-12 but weren’t able to close it out. Sinister5 proving their mettle won four consecutive rounds and closed out the map 16-14 taking us to map 3. 

The Decider 

Dust_2 would separate these two teams, distinguishing a grand finalist. The map comprised of 42 rounds in total, going into double overtime. It included some monster performances from KustoM, MisteM, dyvo and takbok. There was nothing in it at half time, with an 8-7 score line in favour of Big5. Again though, the map was plagued by technical difficulties, this time it was flexee who’s internet was playing up. Constantly disconnecting meant it was a stop-start affair, testing the players tenacity. 

It was almost written in the stars that the map would go to overtime, considering how close it had been throughout the series. Indeed it did, not before Big5 spilled 3 match points though. In the process we saw some vintage 2016 KustoM AWPing and a game changing ace from dyvo. Sinister5 kept the belief eventually closing it out 22-19. 

A bitter pill to swallow for Big5 considering how hard they’d fought, still there were plenty of positives for them to be proud of. The stage was now set, Goliath Gaming vs Sinister5 in the Grand Final. 

Match-day 10 – Finals Day

Before the grand final was the 3/4th playoffs between Energy and Big5. Once again it was a hotly contested match going the distance. And again it was decided in overtime on Dust_2, where Energy were able to close it out and claim the 3rd spot in ECL 2019, leaving Big5 in 4th. 

This brings us to the Grand Final, which was somewhat an anticlimactic match. Keep in mind that Sinister5 had upset Goliath during the group stage, beating them on Dust_2 and drawing on Train. Point being, the match was highly anticipated with Sinister5 looking to do the double over Goliath and Goliath in turn seeking redemption.  

The veto had already shown that we were in store for something different. Goliath, who’d banned Mirage consistently throughout now floated it, in favour of banning Dust_2. Unsurprising considering how good Sinister5 have looked on the map in recent weeks. Sinister5 went on to pick Mirage and Goliath Inferno. Sinister5 had to win Mirage to remain in the hunt for the title in my opinion as Inferno was always going to be won by Goliath. 

One Way Traffic

Mirage was one way traffic, to put it lightly. Detrony and massacre proved to be far too much to handle racking up 48 kills between them across 19 rounds winning the map 16-4. What I liked most about this performance was how much Goliath had improved on Mirage. From banning the map and working on it to bring it out in a Grand Final and being so destructive was impressive.

Sinister5 were hurting heading into Inferno and required something special if they were going to turn things around. They started on the CT side but got mauled particularly at A, losing the half 6-9. Goliath marched on only dropping a further three rounds before closing out the map 16-9 claiming the title of ECL 2019. 

Under the wing of Detrony, Goliath Gaming have been on a massive upward trajectory and I think it’s safe to say they’re the ones to beat at the up-coming events. You can go back and catch the VODs of ECL 2019 on Evetech’s YouTube or Twitch channels. 

What’s to Come

If you’re a fan of South African CS:GO, which assuming if you’re reading this, you are, there’s a lot to look forward to in the weeks to come. In two weeks time is Comic Con and afterwards the rAge Expo which will both play host to CS:GO LANs. 

South African CS is in a healthy state with the competitive environment being so closely contested. I wouldn’t even be surprised if we had different champions for ECL 2019, Comic Con and rAge Expo. For now, relive the best highlights from the final weekend of the Evetech Champions League Season 3 in the recap video below.