ECL S51 APAC Cup #2: Day 3 recap

The ESL Challenger League Season 51 Asia Pacific Cup #2 continues with upper and lower bracket rounds playing out side by side after the initial round of best-of-threes. Here's a quick look at how things have turned out so far.

Morningstar, Just Swing book upper semi-finals

In the first upper bracket quarter-final game, Morningstar took on BMZ. Both teams got free passes into the second round after their opponents did not show up in the first round. The series started on Ancient with BMZ securing a massive 11-1 lead in the first half. The Mongolian side conceded the initial couple of rounds in the second half but ended up closing Ancient 13-4. Morningstar put up a stronger fight in the second map, Inferno, taking BMZ to overtime. BMZ dropped just a single round in overtime to win Inferno 16-13 and the series 2-0, advancing to the upper semi-final.

Coming into the matchup off of a LAN win at ESN National Championship, 5star took down Just Swing in the opening map, Nuke but the Chinese side bounced back with convincing 13-3 and 13-6 wins on Ancient and Inferno to reverse sweep the series 2-1 and send 5star down into the lower bracket.

Alter Ego falls to the lower bracket

Alter Ego's match against BORING PLAYERS started on Nuke and BOROS was on song right away, setting his team up for a big lead in the first half but Alter Ego managed to only secured a marginal 7-5 lead. Round for round trades in the second half saw Alter Ego close Nuke by the skin of their teeth, 13-11. BOROS topped the charts with an ADR of 118 and HLTV rating of 1.66. However, some of Alter Ego's most important players flatlined in the next two maps as BORING PLAYERS snatch away a 2-1 series win.

On the other side of the bracket, FengDa walked straight into the upper semi-final as NSN did not show up for their game. NSN themself made it to the second round off of a bye in the first round.

Last Bullet, Haunted House receive byes in the lower bracket

Change The Game and Take Me Away who skipped the opening round, did not show up for their lower bracket matches, defaulting wins to Last Bullet and Haunted House, bowing out of the tournament.

The QUBE, Rare Atom survive initial lower bracket matches

Chinggis Warriors who did not show up for their opening game, made their first Cup #2 appearance in the lower bracket against The QUBE. The Mongolian derby went neck to neck initially with both teams splitting a 6-6 half on Mirage but The QUBE displayed a superior CT-side to lock in Mirage 13-8. After crumbling down to a 4-8 disadvantage on the T-side of Ancient, Chinggis Warriors could not recover as The QUBE secured a 13-5 win on Ancient off of a near-flawless T-side showing, netting them a 2-0 series win.

Legion and Rare Atom who were handed crippling 0-2s in the opening round, faced each other in the lower bracket. Legion struggled to get going on Rare Atom's pick of Dust2, ending their CT-side with a 4-8 scoreline. Despite a late game resurgence from Legion, Rare Atom kept their cool and closed Dust2 13-7. Rare Atom decimated the Pakistani side on Overpass, securing a 11-1 lead on the CT-side. Dropping just a couple of rounds, Rare Atom won Overpass 13-2, eliminating Legion.

Alter Ego, Haunted House proceed to lower semi-finals

The second lower bracket round started with Alter Ego taking on Last Bullet. Despite BOROS stepping up with a 1.43 rating game, Alter Ego were handed a narrow 10-13 loss on Overpass. A Polbandana-show in the second map saw Alter Ego level the series at 1-1 off of a 13-7 win on Mirage. The decider took us to Dust2 where Alter Ego converted an 8-4 lead into a 13-6 win to wrap the series 2-1 and send Last Bullet packing.

Haunted House started Dust2 with a 9-3 CT-side and secured a 13-7 win but failed to show up on Ancient. NSN slid an 8-4 half in their favor on the CT-side and pulled off a flawless T-side to claw one back with a 13-4 win on Ancient. Mirage started off as anyone's map with both teams splitting a 6-6 half but Haunted House's CT-side locked NSN out of the game. Going 7-3 in the second half, NSN closed Mirage 13-9 and won the series 2-1.

Morningstar eliminate Rare Atom

Rare Atom's lower bracket match Morningstar has been the closest series by far in this tournament. Rare Atom started on the T-side of Mirage with a big 9-3 lead but Morningstar turned the tables on Rare Atom, taking the map into overtime and away from Rare Atom, stealing a 16-12 win off of a flawless overtime showing. Rare Atom answered back with a comfortable 13-6 win on Ancient after going 6-1 on their CT-side. After splitting a 6-6 half on Anubis, Rare Atom recovered from a deficit in the second half and tied the game at 12-12. It took three overtimes to split the difference as Morningstar emerged victorious with a 22-19 scoreline, eliminating Rare Atom.

On the other side of the bracket, The QUBE breezed through into the lower semi-final as their opponent- The QUBE did not show up for the match.

Here's how the next few matches have shaped up: