ORDER finish tied for 5th at the S32 MDL Global Challenge

Australian Counter-Strike squad ORDER were eliminated from today’s ESEA Season 32 Global Challenge in Dallas following two losses to North American top-seed, INTZ.

Jordan “Hatz” Bajic (86-86, 77 ADR, 1.07 rating, 3 clutches) led the way for ORDER who managed a strong 2-0 win over Triumph, guaranteeing a 5th-6th finish for the Australians who qualified for the event after a strong 13-4 regular season in Oceania and winning the playoff bracket over the Chiefs, Genuine Gaming and PC419.

ORDER began their campaign against the North American top seed INTZ on Train in the opening best-of-one. The Brazilian squad capitalised on early entry kills following the pistol round win and jumped out to a 6-0 lead before a pistol force-buy team ace saw ORDER claim their first.

However, a two-versus-three follow-up by INTZ reset ORDER, and a subsequent round loss had them struggling at 8-1. Another pistol force-buy was called and once again, ORDER found success through a Karlo “USTILO” Pivac clutch.

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It was short-lived as INTZ’s inner hit, while initially starting poorly, was successful in the post plant with xand landing two MAC-10 kills in the 2v4 to force Chris “emagine” Rowland into another save. Continual re-buys finally broke INTZ’s economy and ORDER began a run back, stringing together the final three CT rounds to manage a 6-round half.

The comeback opportunity faded quickly for ORDER. Despite USTILO’s best efforts (21-16, 89 ADR, 1.23 rating), INTZ would go on to win the CT side pistol before converting their 9 opening round advantage into a comfortable 16-7 win, forcing the Aussies into the elimination match.

NA third seed Triumph opened the elimination best-of-three on Inferno with the CT pistol round win but ORDER countered with the second round buy following the bomb plant and pushed to a fast 4-1. ORDER would go on to plant the bomb six times in the opening eight rounds on their way to a solid 10-5 half on their pick of Inferno. Hatz (25-14, 92 ADR, 1.49 rating) was the standout as ORDER recovered following the pistol round loss, putting together five rounds in a row before closing out Inferno 16-11.

Hatz’s form continued onto a roller-coaster Nuke for ORDER, who found a CT second round win after Triumph’s T pistol to move to 3-1 before Triumph hit back with their own string of rounds to retake the lead at 5-4. Neither side found momentum with the teams trading backwards and forwards before Triumph broke the deadlock with a 9-6 lead.

Converting the followup pistol, Triumph lept to 11-6 and were looking to force a third map before the combined efforts of Hatz (28-19, 1.47), emagine (21-20, 1.07) and Matthew “Valiance” Hartrick (21-18, 1.13) brought ORDER back into the lead at 12-11. Both sides traded rounds once more, with Triumph inching ever so close to the map win at 14-13, but crucial clutches & T executes saw the Aussies through 16-14 into the decider best-of-three.

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ORDER found their second pistol round win but their rematch against INTZ would begin badly, with the Brazilian squad breaking straight back with pistols on B site. The force-buy win by INTZ began an 8 round streak on their CT side before ORDER hit back thanks to Valiance (23-17, 109 ADR, 1.41 rating).

Valiance followed up the round win with a quad entry, ultimately managing 9 kills in three straight rounds before ORDER’s T side recovery was halted; the Aussies would manage a serviceable 5 T rounds, but once again the opening kills proved the difference for the Brazilian squad on their T side, prancing to a 16-6 victory.

ORDER struggled into INTZ’s pick of Mirage, finding more success with the upgraded pistols as INTZ continually broke the CT economy. 3-1 became 7-2, then 11-4 for the Brazilians in a lightning fast T half. 

ORDER’s second pistol round win of the event, followed by multiple bomb plants and brilliant entry kills by Valiance (16-15, 85 ADR, 1.13) & USTILO (15-17, 66 ADR, 0.94 rating) showed life in the ORDER T side but multiple mistakes in post-plant situations at 13-8 spelled doom for the Aussies, ultimately going down 16-8 and wrapping their event in 5th-6th.

You can stay connected with ORDER by following them on Twitter.

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Credits:

• Written by Nicholas Taifalos
  
• Edited by Ben Scott‍