Envy qualify for ESL Pro League S10 Americas; INTZ, Singularity, ATK to ESEA MDL S32

Following a 3-1 win in the grand finals of Relegation, Envy have retained their spot in ESL Pro League, and are set to return for Season 10. Their opponents, ATK, have been cast down to ESEA MDL alongside Singularity and INTZ.

Envy secured themselves a spot in the grand finals following following wins over INTZ and ATK in the upper bracket. Having knocked Singularity down to the lower bracket in their opening matchup, ATK had to battle past their fellow MDL hopefuls a second time in the consolidation final. A narrow 2-1 victory for the South African roster set up a rematch of the upper bracket final between Aran "⁠Sonic⁠" Groesbeek and his former teammates for a spot in ESL Pro League Season 10.

Following their run through the upper bracket, Envy entered the final series of Relegation with a one map advantage as they looked to secure a win on their own pick of Inferno. Their edge did not last long however, with Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou helping to power ATK to an 8-0 start on the defense. Although Envy managed to narrow the deficit to 10-5 at the half, a pistol win following the side swap allowed for JT and company to close out the map in fast fashion, giving up just five rounds before locking in a 16-10 victory to tie up the series.

s0m proved to be a crucial piece for Envy in the final map of the series

ATK continued in their winning ways as Dust2 got underway, dropping the opening pistol before pushing up to a 5-1 lead. A back-and-forth trading of rounds between the two sides saw Envy come out on top to swing momentum into their favour, with Bradley "⁠ANDROID⁠" Fodor finding 21 frags in the first half to edge out the lead by a single round for his team. A 5vs2 pistol round loss following the side swap saw ATK scrambling for control, managing just one round as Envy took six for themselves to sit upon match point. ATK replied in kind as they fought to force overtime, but fell short at the final hurdle as Envy regained the lead in the series with a 16-14 victory.

The situation took a downturn for the South African side on Train, with the team opening up the map with two rounds on the defense before finding themselves on the backfoot as Envy won eight of the ensuing nine rounds for an 8-3 scoreline. Three rounds towards the end of the half allowed for ATK to slightly close the deficit, allowing them to steal away the lead from Envy with a quartet of rounds following the side swap thanks to a 1vs3 clutch by JT in the pistol.

ATK's one round lead did not last for long once Envy returned to rifles, with Sam "⁠s0m⁠" Oh, Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis, and Jacob "⁠FugLy⁠" Medina combining to push their side up to match point at 15-10. Much like on Dust2, ATK embarked on a comeback effort that saw them garner three additional rounds, but they were once again cut short as Envy closed out the map 16-13 to retain their spot in ESL Pro League for the next season.

ESL Pro League Season 9 North America RelegationBest of 5 EnvyMatchpage 3 1 19th August 2019 ATK 1Default 0 10Inferno 16 16Dust2 14 16Train 13

Envy	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Sam 's0m' Ohs0m	65 - 57	+8	87.2	1.29
Jacob 'FugLy' MedinaFugLy	54 - 54	0	77.4	1.10
Noah 'Nifty' FrancisNifty	54 - 58	-4	72.7	1.07
Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekSonic	55 - 56	-1	67.3	1.05
Bradley 'ANDROID' FodorANDROID	58 - 51	+7	66.7	1.05

ATK	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouJT	67 - 46	+21	79.9	1.24
Roberto 'blackpoisoN' Dall'OccoblackpoisoN	60 - 58	+2	74.5	1.07
Ian 'motm' Hardymotm	52 - 62	-10	72.3	0.92
Dominic 'Domsterr' SampaioDomsterr	45 - 58	-13	66.7	0.89
Rhys 'Fadey' ArmstrongFadey	52 - 62	-10	62.2	0.86

The final EPL Season 9 North America Relegation standings are:

1. Envy - ESL Pro League Season 10
2. ATK - ESEA MDL Season 32
3. Singularity - ESEA MDL Season 32
4. INTZ - ESEA MDL Season 32

Just one spot in ESL Pro League Season 10 Americas remains to be determined through the South America Relegation tournament, with the current list of participants looking as follows:

Liquid
NRG
FURIA
MIBR
Renegades
Cloud9
Complexity
Envy eUnited
Luminosity
Isurus
DETONA
Infinity
Ghost
Lazarus
EPL SA RelegationNRG #5 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov INTZ #30 Vito 'kNgV-' GiuseppeAlexandre 'xand' ZiziLucas 'destiny' BulloGustavo 'yel' KnittelMarcelo 'chelo' Cespedes ATK #72 Roberto 'blackpoisoN' Dall'OccoDominic 'Domsterr' SampaioRhys 'Fadey' ArmstrongJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouIan 'motm' Hardy Lazarus #54 Braxton 'swag' PierceJaccob 'yay' WhiteakerYassine 'Subroza' TaoufikJordan 'Zellsis' MontemurroGage 'Infinite' Green Envy #35 Jacob 'FugLy' MedinaAran 'Sonic' GroesbeekBradley 'ANDROID' FodorNoah 'Nifty' FrancisSam 's0m' Oh MIBR #13 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoWilton 'zews' PradoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaLucas 'LUCAS1' TelesEpitacio 'TACO' de Melo Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek Age: 20 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 467 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.63 eUnited #40 Victor 'food' WongEdgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoAnthony 'vanity' MalaspinaKaleb 'moose' JayneAustin 'Cooper' Abadir Jacob 'FugLy' Medina Age: 24 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 1014 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.65 Renegades #16 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadSean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiJay 'Liazz' Tregillgas DETONA #69 Matheus 'prt' ScuveroMatheus 'Tuurtle' AnhaiaAndré 'tiburci0' RossettoVinicius 'vsm' Moreira Noah 'Nifty' Francis Age: 21 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 760 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.66 Ghost Matthew 'WARDELL' Yu Cloud9 #19 Oscar 'mixwell' CañellasDamian 'daps' SteeleTimothy 'autimatic' TaKenneth 'koosta' SuenTyson 'TenZ' Ngo Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou Age: 20 Team: ATK Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 442 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.67 Infinity #147 Javier 'cruzN' CruzAndres 'spamzzy' CorreaSantiago 'Daveeys' GalvisJesus 'sam_A' TaboadaMario 'malbsMd' Samayoa Luminosity #43 Lucas 'steel' LopesHenrique 'HEN1' TelesRicardo 'boltz' PrassJoão 'felps' VasconcellosGabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato Bradley 'ANDROID' Fodor Age: 25 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 756 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.66 FURIA #9 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoRinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior Complexity #27 Shahzeb 'ShahZaM' KhanRory 'dephh' JacksonRicardo 'Rickeh' MulhollandHunter 'SicK' MimsOwen 'oBo' Schlatter Liquid #1 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Singularity #39 Ryan 'ryann' WelshRicky 'floppy' KemeryCameron 'cam' KernJosh 'oSee' OhmAlan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman Isurus #65 Nicolás 'Noktse' DávilaRoberto 'reversive' ThemthamNabil 'nbl' AleuaMaximiliano 'max' GonzalezGabriel '1962' Sinopoli Sam 's0m' Oh Age: 17 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 204 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.68