We are back and we are ready for it all over again. ESEA MDL Season 31 Australia continues in its 2nd week, with more exciting matches to come. For this article, we have gathered three of the most anticipated fixtures of the 2nd week, more about which you can read below.
ESEA MDL Season 31 Australia - Week 2 Preview
Genuine Gaming vs Athletico BH
These two teams played a total of four maps between them so far in 2019. Their first match was in the LPL Pro League Season 1, where Athletico managed to beat Genuine Gaming 16-12 on Mirage. They met again at the ESL Australia & NZ Championship in a BO3 match, but this time it was Genuine who was victorious. While it was Athletico who won the first match 16-14 on Nuke, Genuine managed to bounce back with two strong performances on Inferno (22-18 after overtime) and on Mirage (19-17 after overtime) to secure the win.
If we take a look at past matches between these two teams, we can see that they were mostly a close affair, so I don't really understand why Genuine are such big favourites here. Sure, they will most likely win the match, but I do believe Atletico has what it takes to keep it close. I expect a close match with plenty of rounds played.
Ground Zero vs Breakaway Esports
Just a couple of days ago, Breakaway Esports released Jared "HaZR" O'Bree and Jireh "J1rah" Youakim from their starting lineup. Although they had two stand-ins Nelson “Keeyto” Then and Matthew “Valiance” Hartrick filling in from Paradox Gaming, they still managed to win their first two matches in the ESEA MDL, against Jade (16-7) and Dinq (16-1). Quite an impressive result for a team with two stand-ins.
Looking at past matches between Ground Zero and Breakaway Esports, Ground Zero managed to win four maps out of five played, 2-1 (BO3 match, 16-14 on Overpass, 8-16 on Nuke and 16-14 on Mirage) and 19-17 on Inferno in the LPL Pro League Season 1.
The upcoming match will be played on Mirage, a map that both teams are comfortable playing on. Ground Zero have a 56% win rate from 9 matches, while Breakaway are 62% from 13 matches. All in all, the match looks like a 50/50, which usually results in a long match with a lot of rounds played. With that in mind, I expect this one to be a close one with at least 27 rounds, something like 16-14 for either team.
Paradox Gaming vs DINQ
It has just been announced that Paradox Gaming have made a roster change, as they replaced James "sibe" Martin with David "Kingfisher" Kingsford.
DINQ on the other side are a new team and they have played only one official match so far; a 16-1 loss against Breakaway Gaming on Vertigo. Not a great result to start off your career, especially if you consider that Breakaway gaming had two stand-ins in their roster!
The match will be played on Mirage where DINQ`s old roster (known as Skyfire) did not perform well in the past, in other words, they lost all of the four matches they played on Mirage. The only time Skyfire came close to winning was against Paradox Gaming, in a 19-16 loss after overtime, however, we need to consider the fact both teams had different rosters back then.
In conclusion, I expect DINQ to struggle against Paradox gaming and I am not sure if they will be able to win more than five or six rounds. Paradox Gaming should be able to win this one quite early without any real issues. Expect a fast and painful finish of the match for DINQ and a dominant show from Paradox Gaming.
