Athletico qualify for MDL GC LAN Finals

ESEA Premier Season 23 for the Oceanic region has come to an end, with Athletico defeating Immunity 2-0 (16-11 de_cache, 16-7 de_nuke) in the Grand final, becoming the first team to qualify for the Mountain Dew League Global Challenge LAN Finals.

The eight team single-elimination playoffs finished earlier than expected, as three of the quarter-final matches were forfeited by AVANT, SYF and Incept, due to roster issues. This gave Athletico, Chiefs and Immunity free access to the semi-finals. The last quarter-final match was played between Exile5 and the Aussie-Kiwi Parallax team, which went in the way of Exile5 2-1 who managed to scoop the last two maps 16-14 narrowly.

On one side of the bracket, Athletico was pit against last season's winner Chiefs, who defeated them in the semi-final 2-1 under the ASDF name at the time. History did not repeat itself, as Athletico overcame Michael "⁠Lightstep⁠" Hall's side 2-0 convincingly, despite a close second map.

Athletico continue their reign of success without their favourite Mongolian, erkaSt

Switching over to the other semi-final, it went to all three maps with Exile5 taking Mirage 16-14 in the first map. Immunity stole the next map on Cobblestone in an overtime win, as Nikhil "⁠NikkeZ⁠" Victor's crew struggled to close the series 2-0 early when they had the lead. The showdown between the two was decided on Train, which progressed to quintuple overtime. James "⁠James⁠" Quinn' side survived the battle of endurance in the end with a 31-28 win, clinching the match 2-1.

With Connor "⁠chuch⁠" Morgan returning to the active line-up instead of the three month substitute in the form of Erdenetsogt "⁠erkaSt⁠" Gantulga, Athletico claimed another overseas trip, as they succeeded Immunity in the grand final with two straight maps. 

ESEA MDL Season 23 OceaniaBest of 3 AthleticoMatchpage 2 0 22nd November 2016 Immunity 16Cache 11 16Nuke 7

Athletico	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Connor 'chuch' Morganchuch	47 - 31	+16	93.4	1.48
Jay 'Liazz' TregillgasLiazz	47 - 22	+25	90.2	1.48
Jesse 'InfrequeNt' BarkerInfrequeNt	37 - 28	+9	86.6	1.39
Travis 'wizard' Richardsonwizard	43 - 33	+10	89.8	1.33
Stuart 'sonic' Raynersonic	28 - 29	-1	65.8	0.92

Immunity	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Callum 'BURNRUOk' HendersonBURNRUOk	42 - 37	+5	92.9	1.20
James 'James' QuinnJames	35 - 40	-5	68.8	0.88
Sean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiGratisfaction	24 - 38	-14	66.0	0.80
Mark 'deStiny' KagandeStiny	27 - 41	-14	72.1	0.76
Gareth 'gazR' LynngazR	15 - 46	-31	36.3	0.40

ESEA Premier Season 23 final standings:

1. Athletico - MDL Global Challenge LAN spot
2. Immunity - $1,750
3-4. Chiefs - $1,125
3-4. Exile5 - $1,125
5-8. AVANT - $250
5-8. SYF - $250
5-8. Parallax - $250
5-8. Incept - $250

After attending several LAN finals in Asia, this will be the first time Athletico will compete at an international event in the North American region. With this result, we are still far away from determining the following participants for the main event:

Athletico	Asia	Brazil	South Africa
NA #1	NA #2	EU #1	EU #2

Exile5 #117 Nikhil 'NikkeZ' VictorJordan 'krudeN' HillWill 'animus' TurnerLaken 'Kaotik' DutcherSteve 'InJect' Honan Erdenetsogt 'erkaSt' Gantulga Age: 21 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 53 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.63 James 'James' Quinn Age: 22 Team: Immunity Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 130 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.69 Nikhil 'NikkeZ' Victor Age: 21 Team: Exile5 Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 73 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69 AVANT #81 Iyengaran 'IyeN' RajuBobby 'zedzke' JohnsonAlec 'Noisia' GulabovskiGeorgio 'sK' PoumpoulidisRaymond 'Dezibel' Odisho Chiefs #104 Michael 'Lightstep' HallTyler 'tucks' ReillyAlistair 'aliStair' JohnstonJoshua 'INS' PotterLiam 'malta' Schembri Parallax #161 Razmik 'RaZ' BastadjanEgor 'LONSDALE' BaranovChris 'yellow' McGillivrayJordan 'Hatz' BajicSam 'jokes' Molan SYF #216 Daniel 'forge' FoxBrady 'KStaar' KindtReece 'Squishy' LineyAndrew 'ino' FosterNick 'fluke' Pontil-Scala ASDF #104 Michael 'Lightstep' HallTyler 'tucks' ReillyAlistair 'aliStair' JohnstonJoshua 'INS' PotterLiam 'malta' Schembri Connor 'chuch' Morgan Age: 17 Team: Athletico Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 76 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.69 Athletico #43 Travis 'wizard' RichardsonConnor 'chuch' MorganStuart 'sonic' RaynerJesse 'InfrequeNt' BarkerJay 'Liazz' Tregillgas Michael 'Lightstep' Hall Age: 28 Team: Chiefs Rating 1.0: 0.92 Maps played: 113 KPR: 0.61 DPR: 0.65 Incept Wilson 'willyKS' SugiantoChase 'Xtinct' DicksonAndrew 'majestic' OliveChris 'Magnum' WilsonMitchell 'Sync' Dale Immunity #113 Mark 'deStiny' KaganJames 'James' QuinnCallum 'BURNRUOk' HendersonSean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiGareth 'gazR' Lynn