Avant Gaming crowned champions of S10 ESL ANZ Champs

Avant Gaming have claimed victory at Season 10 of the newly revamped ESL ANZ Championships, defeating ORDER 3-1 (13-16, 16-7, 16-8, 16-6) in the best-of-five season final to round out Q1 in the 2020 calendar year.

In front of over 23,000 viewers – a record in concurrent live viewership for a regional CS:GO tournament in Oceania – Avant came from a map down to claim the lion’s share of the $20,000 AUD up for grabs, as well as a guaranteed spot at a prestigious DreamHack Open event, which is yet to be announced, and may face heavy delays given the troubles of international travel due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Both finalists qualified for the playoff weekend through their stage one performances in early March, where Avant capitalised on the upper bracket map advantage and defeated ORDER 3-0 (1-0, 16-12, 19-15). Stage two saw Ground Zero Gaming rebound from their upper bracket defeat to Airborne E.C. to claim first seed in a marathon reverse sweep 3-2 (0-1, 12-16, 16-10, 16-6, 16-11).

Both Ground Zero and Airborne E.C. were admirable in defeat against their stage one opponents in the playoff bracket, with GZ coming incredibly close to eliminating ORDER in the semi-final but ultimately falling just short, going down 1-2 (11-16, 16-13, 16-6).

The win for Avant marks a brilliant finish to the opening season for the new lineup, who found revenge here for their loss to ORDER in the ESEA Season 33 Premier season 1-3, once again proving themselves as one of the top squads in the region.

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While Renegades qualified for, and attended, multiple events internationally they have not played an official map since early March at the Asia Minor qualifier, of which results have essentially been reset following changes to the qualification format for the pinnacle event.

It wasn’t a comfortable start for the Avant team in 2020. The new roster struggled early on at the IEM Katowice 2020 qualifier and the all-important Asia Minor qualifier, downed twice by Chiefs Esports Club (then ex-Genuine Gaming) and once outside the top four.

But both individually and as a cohesive unit, the team has rebounded spectacularly. From dropping just a single map during the ESEA Premier regular season to landing four of the top eight spots for individual rating during ESL ANZ Champs, Avant has seemingly hit their stride.

With ESL’s Road to Rio just around the corner, and with only four teams vying for the single qualifier spot for the major, now is the time for Oceania’s second representative to emerge. Avant will be expected to join Renegades and ORDER who have thus far been invited, but with all three on an equal pegging, the Road to Rio will surely be paved with great expectations. Stay up to date with Oceanic CS:GO news, results and more via Here’s The Thing.

ESL ANZ Championships Season 10 - Results

1st ($8,000 AUD) + DreamHack Open Qualification: Avant Gaming

2nd ($5,000): ORDER

3rd-4th ($3,500): Ground Zero Gaming, Airborne E.C.

CS:GO Regional Event Winners - Oceania Q1 2020

IEM Katowice 2020 Qualifier: Renegades

ESL One: Rio Asia Minor Qualifiers: Renegades, ORDER

ESEA Season 33 Premier & Global Challenge Qualifier: ORDER

ESL ANZ Championships Season 10: Avant Gaming

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Credits:

• Written by Nicholas Taifalos
• Edited by Adam Taylor

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