The beauty of any esports scene lies in the strength of its community.

A viewing party is a great chance for fans of games to gather and enjoy the games they love with like-minded people that can create memories to last a lifetime. We were at Bankstown Sports Club during the week of IEM Sydney to check out everything the viewing party had to offer.

Every Intel Extreme Masters Sydney sees something new pop up alongside the event for fans to enjoy. This year, ESL Australia decided to link with the Bankstown Sports Club to create a group stage viewing party so fans can cheer on their teams as the squads battle for a spot at Qudos Bank Arena come Friday afternoon.

Getting There

It was less than a five minute walk from Bankstown Stadium, so getting there was relatively painless. The T3 Bankstown Line connects Lidcombe (home of esports btw) Liverpool and the CBD to this microcosm of Sydney. On top of that, there’s plenty of bus options, and driving to the area is as easy as following the signs.

Once inside, the staff were friendly enough, with Ties even able to store his luggage in the cloakroom while he took in Thursday’s proceedings. And assuming you didn’t get directed to the playing area instead of the viewing party by mistake, signs allowed you to make your way to the Theater to watch without too much trouble.

The Viewing Party

So, once you’re inside, what did you really get for your $15?

Well, to be honest, not a lot. You did get a soft drink or some popcorn, but that’s about it in terms of in-hand value. You’re basically paying to get in the door, and the understated convenience of having a bar at the back of the venue so you didn’t have to go far for a frothy or softy.

In what’s becoming a yearly tradition before #IEM Sydney, @DannyKimHD has been out & about, meeting esports celebs, tackling double-decker burgers, & sampling some bodacious brews.

All at Bankstown Sports Club – the venue for #IEM Sydney group stages! pic.twitter.com/eQvjDOZ45o

— ESL Australia (@ESLAustralia) April 26, 2019

Going in the middle of the day meant the atmosphere was fairly lacking until it started to get going, as people obviously couldn’t get there while stuck at work. However the crowd did start to build past close of business each day. The theater itself was spacious, with plenty of relatively comfortable seating available. That included seating at the front, in a first come, first serve capacity.

If you were lucky, you might have been able to have a cheeky chat or a pic with some of your favourite players checking out the matches in their downtime. ESL had set up signing sessions with the Chiefs and Grayhound on Thursday, and the crowd got to enjoy some good-natured banter and a classic “Aussie Aussie Aussie” with karrigan at one stage as well.

Overall, I would say it was worth the ticket price to get in, but you were hoping for a long best-of-three series to get everyone in the crowd hyped up.

Drinks

This is where things started to fly up quicker than a Melbournian on their seventh cup of coffee. Bankstown Sports has a multitude of drinking options available, from a range of different establishments around the venue.

The best of these options were the in-house beers of the Brewhouse, located in the basement of the club. There was over thirteen specially made beers on tap, starting from a $4 price range. The beers ranged from Czech-style Pilsners, to a strong Witbier (wheat beer for those playing along at home), and pretty much everything in between. It was perfect for any fan of the amber liquids.

But the pièce de résistance would have to have been the especially made de_lager, available at the Viewing Party Bar for $5.50. This drink went down smoother than listening to HenryG and Sadokist casting an action-packed game. The de_lager was hands down one of the best beers available in Sydney, and you’d be a fool not to get your hands on some next time around.

There was more than just beer at the Bankstown Sports Club though, with Platform Zero Esports providing good quality drinks and snacks. There was also a multitude of consoles and computers to game on once the IEM action was done for the day.

Food

But none of those factors hold up if the food isn’t up to scratch.

Luckily, it’s safe to say the sports club had some of the best eats the city has to offer at reasonable prices. It would have taken a dedicated person to starve there, with eight restaurants and cafes located inside the club with options ranging from Asian cuisine to quality vegetarian options.

For a light-ish lunch, you could head over to the Greenfield Station Bistro and try one of their salads for a good, healthy food kick to get you to dinner. Once again, however, the best food was found at the Brewhouse, where the name of the game is burgers, sandwiches, and everything to make a degenerate meat-eater (myself included) jump for joy.

For people wanting to try and limit the damage the Brewhouse can easily induce, the Reuben Sandwich was a great compromise. This could have saved someone from destroying their diet faster than MIBR checking out of the knockout phase.

Finally, for those who were ready and raring to eat a cow whole, the Monster Burger Combo was perfect for anyone who loves burgers, chips, and a pint of beer for the low price of just $25. It provided great value for anyone saving their money to buy as many jerseys and pins as possible.

So was it worth going? In a word, definitely.

While the crowd may have been lacking early, once people got off work and the crowd builded the viewing party became something else, and if they’re planning on bringing it back when IEM Sydney returns, you’d be a fool to miss out.

We spoke with Liquid’s Keith “NAF” Markovic on the eve of their Semi Final clash against MIBR.

How does it feel coming into IEM Sydney as a favorite compared to recent events in the year where you’ve been overshadowed by Astralis?

NAF: Yeah we’ve been in this situation before and there’s some events previously like there’s no Astralis here or there might be no Faze or something like that it’s just like…”Right, who’s gonna win it? Liquid’s gonna win it for sure.” Obviously issues keep arising but we’re are feeling confident.

We’ve been in the situation plenty of times if we reach the final… we’ve talked about it a lot and especially after the (Blast Pro Series) Miami lost we put a lot of thought into it. I think this will give us a different outcome.

So going back to the Major, you guys were knocked out on the championship stage and couldn’t fight for your spot in the grand final. Does that put you under more pressure to win here in Sydney or does that give you a bit more determination to take out the tournament?

NAF: In the finals in Poland (Katowice), I think we’re kind of underestimated ENCE a little bit but yeah, I don’t know it feels like every other tournament to us like you know? Like, we want to go in and we know we were capable of winning, let’s just play our best give it our best see what happens.

Ultimately you still can fail, although second place isn’t that bad . But yes, we are feeling a lot more conscious about it.

The atmosphere in the arena is electric!

We take to the stage at IEM Sydney looking to lock up our spot in the grand finals. #LetsGoLiquid

Come cheer us on now:https://t.co/WhRg5vjP2u pic.twitter.com/J2SpSAvYGU

— Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) May 4, 2019

You’ve been with Liquid for a little bit longer than your first stint, how is it different now compared to your time in 2015?

NAF (chuckling): Oh, it’s a lot different, I’m a lot older now. I think I was like 17 when I was on Liquid. So yeah, I was really young and obviously I’ve matured a lot more now. I’m 21 now so it’s been a long time but obviously the game was a lot different back then even for the NA support with the organization, that’s when the Liquid originally jumped into CS and now we’re here.

But obviously the game in general is a lot different. The practice for the teams are a lot different. The world of esports is a lot more different and it’s a lot more beneficial for us in CS.

Looking forward to tomorrow, MIBR and Mousesports are playing as we speak. Do you think any of those two teams could cause massive threat to you guys not making it to the grand final on Sunday?

NAF: Oh yeah for sure. MIBR are a very good team. I’m a fan of the style for sure. They’ve been very mixed up style of CS and it worked a lot in the past and now they’re trying to find their own way back with their new lineup. Even Mousesports… I haven’t seen them play or anything about their new roster but they’re this deep in the tourney for a reason.

So yeah could be scary either way. So we just have to not underestimate anyone, make sure we’re feeling good for tomorrow and come out swinging.

This roster has been around for the past few months with Stewie joining late last year, how has he changed up the roster and how does it feel becoming the bannermen of American Counter Strike?

NAF: Stewie coming in, like he’s very vocal with the issues that we had, (if he saw something) he would call it; no time wasted. He would just call it out instantly and just tell you

“This is wrong you should try playing it like this”. And obviously he learned a lot from MIBR because he’s given us a lot of the MIBR way of playing and he introduced it to us. So a lot of us respect that since he kind of came from the best, where MIBR was the best.

So yes we all share in both our worlds because MIBR is a passive team whereas our team is very aggressive. So we’re kind of mixing both the formulas together and we’re going to make it super fun.

You can watch today’s thrilling Semi Final between NAF’s Liquid and MIBR today from 3PM AEST live on twitch.tv/esl_csgo.

Tickets to IEM Sydney 2019 are still available on the official website or ticketek.com.au.

Photo credit: ESL | Adela Sznajder

We talked to Damian “daps” Steele at IEM Sydney on Friday where we discussed how tarik has integrated into the squad, thoughts on their opposition heading into the final and if we have seen the best ever squad NRG has ever produced.

Do you think this is the best iteration of NRG we’ve ever seen?

Daps: I think so.

I think picking up tarik was a huge pickup and it gives us more versatility so I think so far the results have been pretty good and hopefully we do well with him.

You spoke about tarik who joined NRG in January. How’s he integrated into the squad especially after the major?

Daps: He’s integrated pretty easily. I think his role is less defined in that he’s more of an all around player so it’s a lot easier to call I’d say so. Most of the players on the team can do everything now. So that helps mid-rounding so you know to put certain people in certain spots. So it helps a lot.

You’ll be facing off against either Fnatic or NIP tomorrow afternoon. Do you think they have anything that will stop you from making the final on Sunday?

Daps: Generally we’ve struggled versus Fnatic and NIP. So yeah, it’s definitely one of the harder matches for us. We’d obviously prefer to play a domestic rival like MIBR or Liquid even though it sounds insane to say.

But yeah, I think our map pool is stronger now and I think the break we had after StarLadder has helped us a lot. So I think we’ll be able to beat Fnatic or NIP.

LET’S GOOOO WE IN SEMIFINALS NOW BOYS!! ?

We win 16-11 to complete the 2-0 sweep! GGWP @mibr #IEMSydney pic.twitter.com/xw3LyaOuFI

— NRG Current (@NRGcurrent) May 2, 2019

So you talked about domestic teams, your next few events will be back home in North America. Do you think they’ll give you an extra benefit going into next few events?

Daps: Yeah I think definitely the travelling to Sydney is a long journey. So it’s really tiring. I definitely think playing NA events is a lot better for us obviously to adjust to the time zones or anything. I don’t think it gives us a huge advantage since most top teams are used to the travel now so it definitely helps a little bit.

I just want to elaborate on that point a little bit especially with teams like Astralis and NaVi not deciding to go to too many events away from Europe now. Do you think that gives smaller teams a chance to rise through the ranks?

Daps: Yeah, I think it’s good. I think the fact that there’s a lot of a lot of the good teams are getting invited now from North America, it helps the scene a lot because before it used to just be like Cloud9 being invited to LAN’s and all the other teams had to qualify, even Liquid.

So now that we’re getting invites, Liquid’s getting invites, MIBR gets invites, even Cloud 9 is getting invited. It helps teams like Complexity and Ghost get some more events and it helps sort of the younger players come to events even eUnited even though eUnited didn’t do well at this event it’s a good learning experience for those players.

And finally just on Sweden once again, what are your thoughts on IKEA?

Daps (Smiling): IKEA?

Yeah it’s a great store. Most of my furniture comes from there. It gets a lot of us easily accessible easy to build stuff, except for the dressers the dressers are really annoying. Plus it’s really nice.

Be sure to catch daps and NRG tomorrow from 6:50PM AEST where they take on Fnatic to see who will make it to the Grand Final live on twitch.tv/esl_csgo.

Tickets to IEM Sydney 2019 are still available on the official website or ticketek.com.au.

Photo credit: ESL | Helena Kristiansson

Group B is a group of questions.

While you can be confident in one or two of these teams, for the most part trying to predict what will happen is akin to fishing with dynamite in the Tasman Sea. Nearly everyone can claim a stake to a spot in the playoffs. So, what do they bring to the table? Let’s find out.

FaZe

If you were told following IEM Sydney last year that Faze would fall from being the 2nd best in the world to struggling to be in the top 5, you would have probably told that person that he’s a lunatic. Turns out the lunatic was right and Faze is now at a crossroads. They need to have an impact tournament within the next two months or risk falling out prominence.

That tournament could have been IEM Sydney.

With Faze now hit with the loss of both Nikola “NiKo” Kova? and Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev, for the first day, the slight risk of Faze being beaten in the first round has now grown 10-fold. It doesn’t help the fact that they have been slow to start in recent tournaments (3-5 since former In Game Leader’s Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s departure) and have not won an opening Bo1 in the same period. If they had their full line-up, this would have been an easy group to qualify out of. But unfortunately for Faze, the Esports Gods rarely show any mercy.

Fnatic

Apart from the failure at the Katowice Major, Fnatic have been good without exceeding so far this year as the come into Sydney as a dark horse contender. However, their performance at StarLadder at the start of May suggested that maybe we shouldn’t gloss over them as just an underdog.

Especially if you forgive what happened at Katowice, Fnatic have done well over the past 6 months with consistent Top 4 placings on LAN. Are they being undersold? Should we be considering them to go the distance and win the entire event?

The one thing we know for sure is that the Swedes are all but guaranteed a spot in the Playoffs with one of the easiest runs in the entire tournament with the only real challenge possibly being FaZe in the seeding match if current form around the other teams stays consistent.

MIBR

What else can you say about MIBR that hasn’t been said this year? The Brazilians have been hounded with underwhelming results since their acquisition from SK Gaming last year with only one tournament win at the ZOTAC Cup Masters last August. And with growing calls for another shake-up to the line-up, the Brazilians must turn up too, or risk the calls being turned up to 11.

But can they do it in Sydney?

Their first challenge will be a familiar name to this squad for what happened last year. The Grayhounds. While the Aussie side may have the mental advantage coming into the match, we do have to remember that MIBR is easily the better team when they do turn up.

Even if they do win the first round, they (probably) go straight into a Bo3 with an in form Fnatic, a tough task for most teams, more so when you’re in a bit of a rut. It looks like their best hopes of making it to the playoffs stage will be with a lower bracket run.

It will be tough for the Brazilians, but it’s possible for them to make a deep stage run come the weekend.

NRG

Like a sports team slowly reaching the end of their championship window, NRG are starting to reach the end of their Tier 1 entry window. IEM Sydney could be the point where they finally confirm their spot as one of the best in the world or if they stay in the realms of Tier 2 until their eventual demise. While they did show some promise towards the middle of last year, they have cooled off somewhat and have taken a backseat as of late.

But now is the time for them to show or walk.  And with a group like this, NRG will face a full-on assault to try and make it to the playoffs. A perfect battleground to show your best.

The early challenger for the NA squad will be ViCi, a team that has had a good start to the year and who could easily upset NRG in a Bo1. If they can push them aside and then take Faze to a three-game series, then they have a good shot at making it to the playoffs, even if it’s through the lower bracket. But an early lose sees them in a bad spot, especially towards the end of the group.

It’s time to show us what you are made of NRG, step up to the plate and get ready to bat.

Heroic

To say that Heroic will be having a tough time at IEM Sydney is an understatement. Having qualified through the GG.Bet Sydney Invitational, the Scandinavian side are against the odds from the outset with a first-round battle with Fnatic that will be nothing but an uphill battle for them.

And it doesn’t get easier in the Lower Bracket, where they will face either Grayhounds or MIBR first up before having to face the likes of NRG and ViCi later. It all stacks to be a rough time for Heroic, who need nothing short of a miracle to find their way past the group stage.

Grayhound Gaming

They took the world by storm last year, and now they return to go one better. Grayhound are for the most part, the best hope of the two locally qualified teams to make an appearance on Friday afternoon on stage. And they have a relatively decent shot of making it IF they can deal with their first-round opponent, MIBR.

Even if they do lose to Fnatic in the next round, they would still have a decent chance against most of the other teams in the group and could make a good run in the lower bracket.

ViCi Gaming

ViCi come to IEM Sydney with both expectations and question to answer. Especially after knocking out Tyloo in the Chinese qualifier and having a good start to the year, they come into the event looking to make a strong statement to prove themselves worthy of being the best of Chinese CS. But it’s not just the team looking to make a statement.

Amidst rumours of a Chinese roster shuffle, Vici have a tournament to play, a tournament where they have a decent enough chance to make a deep run, especially if they can dispatch of NRG in the first round. And even if they fall to the lower bracket early, they have both the talent and the form to make a deep run.

The Chiefs Esports Club

Is it a true IEM Sydney without the Chiefs?  Having qualified for the third time in a row, the Boys in Blue will be looking to finally take the final step to make it to the stage. But is it possible for them?

As said earlier, FaZe isn’t the best starters which could provide the Chiefs with an opening to make a run in the upper bracket. However, it looks more than likely that they will have to fight to the death in the lower bracket to have any chance of making it to Friday or later.

A tough task, but not an impossible one.

Predictions

As I said earlier, while you can be confident in a few teams making it without much fuss, the final slot in the playoffs will be hard to pick, with everyone bar Heroic having a claim to make it to the stage on come Friday.

The only team now all but guaranteed a spot so far are Fnatic. For the other spots, things get interesting.

While MIBR have the talent to push into the weekend, their recent form still leaves too many questions marks to justify them as a favourite for either spot. But it does look likely that they will need to make a lower bracket run if an Upper Bracket Semi against Fnatic a touch too much on their current form.

Meanwhile in the top half, a win for the Chiefs will see things blown wide open with themselves, NRG and ViCi having claims to that 2nd spot for the Qudos Bank Arena.

But who will make it through? I still think Faze have enough, but they are very vulnerable now, so if they don’t make it, the Chiefs should have enough power to finally make it to the weekend.

But who will nab the final spot? Well, we are looking for a team with something to prove, the tenacity to get through 2 or 3 sudden death Bo3’s and the sheer will power to make it through.

Sounds like everyone fits at least some of that profile, but the only ones who tick every box are, somewhat surprisingly MIBR.

Even if they have big issues at the current moment, the Brazilians still have the power that propped them to their dominant 2016 run, it’s just dormant currently, waiting for the perfect opportunity to come back to life?

Could IEM Sydney be their return to form? You’re gonna have to watch to find out what happens in this group of many questions.

For more details, visit the offical IEM Sydney website or check out the IEM Twitter and Facebook pages.

Photo credit: ESL

When your established fan base is a continent away from your live matches, getting fans through the door can present a challenge. We met up with Perth’s Ground Zero at the Gfinity Elite Series to talk about their innovative approach to building a fan base.

In esports, being ahead of the curve is a pathway to success, whether it’s finding an unknown talent or finding ways to get more fans through the door.

While some may go all in on a player, organisations that have a focus on their fan base tend to survive and thrive in a cut throat industry where everything can be lost in a matter of weeks.

Especially for newer orgs, an early impression is vital to any hope of success. Even if you’re in one of the most publicised tournaments in the region, fan interaction is crucial element and ultising that interaction can uplift the tournament and further help the esports scene.

Ground Zero, a rising organisation from Perth, has grown over time to become one of the fastest growing orgs in the country. It has participated at multiple LAN events since its inception in 2016 and recruited talent that has propelled it further into the esports scene.

While they are still dwarfed by the likes of ORDER, the Chiefs, and Avant Gaming, they have made a name for themselves, building a reputation as the banner for esports in Western Australia.

It was no surprise then that when the Gfinity Elite Series came to life earlier this year, Ground Zero took the opportunity to fight for the west of the nation.

But they had a small issue. With the Elite Series being played out of Hoyts at the Entertainment Quarter in Sydney, it was always going to be hard for them to get fans to the Arena.

So they created something no one else had thought of in the Elite Series: a fan club. Created for Season 2, it brings GZ’s Sydney-based fans together to support their teams as they look for glory. It promises a thriving atmosphere where fans can cheer on GZ during Counter Strike:Global Offensive (CSGO), Rocket League (RL) and Street Fighter V (SFV).

We were fortunate enough to spend a match day as a part of the Ground Zero fan club, experiencing first hand hype of the Gfinity Elite Series and the the fan engagement that Ground Zero have been able to build up in the esports haven of Sydney.

During the game, the fan club members are the most vocal part of the crowd, cheering and chanting on the Ground Zero CS:GO squad. This week was the final week of the regular season, and first place was on the line against the Melbourne Avant with the winner taking the coveted spot.

Getting Sydney-based fans to cheer for the western team is surely no easy feat, with state pride being one of the surest ways to ignite passions in any Australian competition. Alongside the Ground Zero staff, Katherine “Kitty” Crea was brought in to mastermind the fan club and according to her, it has been a great success so far.

“I’m really happy and somewhat overwhelmed with how well the fan club has gone.”

The popularity of the fan club is evident to those who have attended Gfinity during the regular season, with a sizeable section of the crowd supporting the Western Australians. Which is fair to observe as a slight surprise, since they face off against east coast teams every week.

“It has been such a challenge to find Ground Zero fans in Sydney,” said Kitty, “so I’ve done a lot of building through social networks and finding people online and so far it’s been successful.”

While the few Avant fans tried to cheer for their team, the Ground Zero fans responded by drowning out their opponent’s fans, asserting dominance in the crowd.

For the players, the chanting is a welcome sound, as Ground Zero’s Cal “bURNRUOk” Henderson said. “You definitely hear it on the stage,” Burn said.

Clip: The crowd cheers as ‘bURN’ sprays down 3 Avant members. Source: Gfinity Elite Series

As the rounds went by, it was obvious that Avant were on the back foot, but they had a shot at coming back at half time. However, GZ quickly put the game to bed, losing only one round in the second half to take away both the win and first place in the regular season.

Just like the game that unfolded that day, Ground Zero considers the fan club a successful venture.

“Seeing the fans come, get really excited and be happy to see their favourite players and even meet the teams afterwards is great,” Burn said.

As for other teams, like the Brisbane Deceptors have a similar fan base at the Arena every week but Kitty believes that when Gfinity starts back up in 2019, “we’re going to see a lot more fan clubs from each team.”

But with GZ able to claim that they got theirs in first, they have a massive advantage over the rest.

Ground Zero and their fan club will return for Season 3 of the Gfinity Elite Series. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live when the Gfinity Elite Series returns in Season 3.

Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

Two weeks ago Melbourne ORDER defeated the Sydney Chiefs 3-1 in the Gfinity Elite Series Season 2 Grand Final.

ORDER were heavy favourites before the game to take down the $40,000 first prize, as most experts only gave the Chiefs one map in the Best of Five series.

ORDER lived up to the predictions, flying out of the gates thanks to an unfortunate post-plant from the Chiefs, as they quickly galloped to a dominant lead on Inferno.

The Chiefs didn’t help themselves, with multiple mistakes on executes across both sites and an interesting play at top Banana allowing Order to get to ten rounds without impediment.

ORDER’s run was also built off of individual plays as well, as ORDER player hatz explained.

“We had quite a bit of momentum coming off big individual plays from emagine and ins earlier in the game”

Emagine holds strong from pit with 4 kills pushing back the Chiefs

They then continued with their blitzkrieg with only one minor hiccup on round 14 before ending the half 14-1, a near impossible score to lose from.

While the Chiefs did pick up the second pistol, it was too little too late, as ORDER quickly wrapped up the final two rounds to end the map 16-2.

After the break, ORDER continued with the push into Overpass, running to another dominant lead early on the T side as they cruised to an early 8-2 lead. While the Chiefs did find some sort of footing towards the end of the first half, ORDER were able to respond, getting to double digits as the half ended 11-4.

After a technical pause for the Chiefs during the break, they were able to find some light, winning the first three rounds in the second half to retrieve some semblance of hope.

But with the gun rounds came the AWP of Alistair and with it the end of any hopes for the Chiefs on Overpass, as ORDER stormed home to win 16-7 and with it a 2-0 series lead.

With their backs against the wall, the Chiefs needed to fight back. Mirage provided them with such an opportunity.

An early lead gave them some breathing room, but ORDER responded, wrestling the lead away from their opponents to take the lead at the halfway point of the half. A late surge from the Chiefs saw the half end 8-7 and gave the Chiefs a golden opportunity to try and take Mirage.

But ORDER wanted to go home, and when the second half started, they turned on the afterburners, quickly running to eleven before the Chiefs could respond. But with their backs against the wall, they found their second wind, finding dominance with the rifles to regain the lead on round 23.

From that point on, they ran away with little further difficulty, taking out their first map of the series 16-13 and continued the series to Train

The loss shook the ORDER lineup.

“I think we were all a little disappointed since we have high expectations of ourselves” said hatz. “But overall the mood got reset on the next map.”

The Chiefs continued their good run on train, picking up the first three rounds to have a small lead. But with the gun rounds bringing back ORDER, the deficit vanished they took the next eleven unopposed to get them back into the driver’s seat once again, taking the half out 11-4, losing only on round 15.

Hatz connects a nutty spray transfer, picking up 3 kills and the Gfinity Elite Series as he completes the post-plant on tournament point.

And from that point on, ORDER were too dominant, as hatz explained.

“I think we knew once we had a good CT side we were confident we were gonna take it out since we know overall our T sides are usually strong.”

Their T side was strong, was they only dropped one round to the Chiefs as they cruised to an 16-5 win on Train and with the Grand Final as they clinch their back-to-back titles 3-1.

ORDER made it two straight in the CS:GO division, toppling Chiefs in both events. They close the year with an important win that they’ll look to build from into 2019 while the Chiefs will be keen to get back to their main roster and continue their run.

We look forward to what the next season of the Gfinity Elite Series has in store, and if anyone can take down the Melbourne juggernaut.

With the penultimate week of the Gfinity Elite Series done and dusted, three teams have secured their spot in the finals while one is all but confined to the basement for another season.

It was a week of heartbreak and glory that could have serious implications for the finals, so let’s go down memory lane to see what happened in Week 4.

Melbourne ORDER vs Melbourne Avant

With Avant securing their spot in the playoffs last week, it was now ORDER’s turn to keep their back to back championships hopes alive. In a massive bonus for the army, their main squad returned to Sydney to fight for this battle for Melbourne.

The change in lineup immediately paid off, quickly taking the lead 3-1 after losing the pistol round.

However, Avant did well on their T side, pinching rounds off ORDER to bring the half to a respectable 9-6 at the half. With AV picking up the first two rounds after the break, things seemed good for the boys in blue. I say this like there was a catch.

That catch was hatz.

A dominate performance from him saw ORDER rise from the trenches to pick up the final seven rounds in a row as they took the win 16-8 and provisional first place along with it, putting them in a good spot for a high seed in the finals.

Perth Ground Zero vs Brisbane Deceptors

The Deceptors’ hopes of having any realistic shot of playoffs relied on this game, but with GZ still riding high off the 16-0 against the second ORDER lineup, it was never going to be easy for the Queenslanders.

It looked good for them at the start, gaining a respectable 4-0 lead and forcing Ground Zero onto the back foot early.

But the boys from Perth pounced, taking the lead just before the half as they headed into a 9-6 lead. While the Deceptors continue to look to take rounds, they could almost never convert, as GZ locked Brisbane into the basement once again with an 16-8 win.

Sydney Roar vs Sydney Chiefs

For the Chiefs, a loss in the Sydney Derby would see them miss the playoffs, an idea most would of thought foreign at the start of the season.

Meanwhile for the Roar, a win would of see them secure a upset playoffs spot turn the final week into a full blown dead rubber/tank bowl week.

The Chiefs started off the game picking up the first two rounds.

But then, just like Sydney’s weather this Wednesday, gotz’s and co slammed into the Chiefs, knocking them over with a surprising display of dominance on T side Train, something said as often as ORDER winning a title since season 1.

While the Chiefs were able to tie things back up to 5-5 at one point, the Roar secured the final five rounds in the half, securing a 10-5 half. At this point, only a brick wall could stop the Roar from securing a playoffs spot in week four.

That wall was the Sydney Chiefs.

In another display of T side Train dominance (insert sharp chills through spine), the Chiefs ran over the Roar like Dylan Napa on the wing and stormed home with an 16-13 win over their Sydney counterparts, keeping the 4th spot in playoffs open for one more week.

The Playoffs Situation

For the Chiefs, if they win, 4th is theirs. They can also claim their spot in the playoffs if they lose by less than six (Bonus Point) and Sydney Roar lose.

If the Roar win however, they would sang 4th if they defeat the Deceptors and if the Chiefs lose by more than six.

While it may seem like a two horse race for the final spot, there is a slight possibility that we may see a 3 way tie for 4th.

How can this happen?

If the Chiefs lose to ORDER and the Deceptors defeat the Roar by less than six rounds, then we would see the teams tied on six points.

This is where things get tricky.

At the time of publication, there are rules for when *TWO* teams are tied, but not a three team situation currently available in the rulebook we have. Snowball is currently seeking clarification on the tiebreak rules in a three way situation and will update this section when possible.

Meanwhile at the top of the ladder, with GZ and AV fighting in the twilight game, an ORDER win would mean a tie in the top.

If this happens, then head to head is used to figure out who is higher. Meaning that if GZ win, they come out of the regular season in first, while for AV, they would come second to ORDER.

The Gfinity Elite Series returns with CS:GO tomorrow from 3pm AEDT. Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

The second week of the Gfinity Elite Series has come and gone with a week filled with comebacks, dominant performances and up-and-comers we don’t get to see on LAN as often as their T1 counterparts.

Melbourne Avant vs Sydney Chiefs

With both starting rosters at the ESL AUNZ Championship Finals in Brisbane, both teams fielded their subs as they played in a game that was more reminiscent of a game in FPL.

Avant took the early advantage, quickly racking up a 10-1 lead as all five AV players played their part on the CT side.

Meanwhile on the Chiefs side, a horrid start by multiple players saw their T side fall around them as they staggered to a woeful 12-3 score at the break.

The hope of a comeback was ignited for a brief moment as they were able to string together five rounds near the end, but it was all in vain as they fell to Avant 16-8 in a performance some would want to forget quickly.

Sydney Roar vs Perth Ground Zero

With the main GZ Roster playing for Australia at IESF, a who’s-who of T2 talent was brought in too hold the banner for the west.

They would face the Roar, who were looking for their first win after last weeks’ drubbing.

GZ took the early momentum, gaining a respectable 7-3 advantage and looking set to take out a critical win for the org.

However, a clean pistol 3k from topguN saw the start of the near-unstoppable Roar train, storming to nail GZ for the half (8-7) before charging into double figures.

GZ could claim only two more rounds as the Roar quickly ended the map with a 16-9 win and crucially denying Perth a bonus point that could mean everything when seasons’ end comes.

Melbourne ORDER vs Brisbane Deceptors

If you were the Deceptors, you must have been thinking of an easy win over the secondary Order lineup.

And at 6-1 up early, you would think they would cruise to victory and put themselves in a box seat for the playoffs.

Unfortunately for them, there cruise became to feel like six months in a leaky boat, hoping just to keep afloat as ORDER took the next 13 rounds unopposed, surprising nearly everyone as they jumped to 14-6.

The Deceptors then mounted a huge comeback, losing only one round in the final ten as they somehow forced the game into OT.

Another comeback from 18-15 down saw the Deceptors stay in the fight, but ORDER were able to eventually deal with the Queenslanders as they took the win 22-20 to stay at the top of the ladder.

Looking forward to this week, seasons could be ended while others can book their tickets to the playoffs.

In the first game, it’ll be both the Chiefs and Deceptors trying to salvage their season and keep their playoffs hopes alive as a loss here could be enough to deny any hopes of finals for either of these teams.

Meanwhile in the twilight game, ORDER look all but set to confirm there 2nd Gfinity playoffs as they play against Ground Zero who could sneak into the top 3 with only a bonus point.

Finally, Avant look to keep up with ORDER at the top as they take on the Roar in a match where after this week, doesn’t seem as clear as it once was.

Catch the Gfinity Elite Series CS:GO teams battling it out from 3pm AEDT on Saturday to see who can make playoffs and who may be saying goodbye to their hopes.

Tune in on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to watch every game live. Head to gfinityesports.com.au for details on schedule and tickets.

The semi finals of the seventh season of the ESL AUNZ Championship saw both Grayhound and the Chiefs cruise into the final after two comfortable victories at Supanova Brisbane.

The day started off with the Chiefs taking on madLikewizards, a team looking to prove themselves once again on LAN.

With the series starting off on Mirage, the wizards seemed to had a shot at an early upset.

However, the Chiefs were quick to recover from their cross-tasman commute, storming out of the gates bad leaving the wizards choking in their dust.

A minor surge in tempo at the start of the second half kept mLw’s hopes up for a brief moment, before the Chiefs snuffed out all semblance of resistance as they took out the map 16-5.

The next map broke Twitch ToS – as the Chiefs completely destroyed mLw on Nuke 16-1. The LAN Kings of AU CS swept aside their online partners in a dominant 2-0 series.

Tyler “tucks” Reilly, the Chiefs captain, said after the game that they were “expecting more from [mLw] as they sometimes do quite well.” They were unable to replicate their performance at the recent CyberGamer LAN however, bowing out in 3-4th.

In the other semi final, it was the ever-surprising Breakaway Esports against giants Grayhound, who were looking to win their second LAN of the year.

According to Grayhound’s IGL Chris “dexter” Nong, they felt on track to getting through to the semi, even flaunting a bit of confidence against the newer side saying “we practice against them quite a bit … and we always dominate them.”

True to his word, Grayhound quickly racked up an impressive 10-5 CT Half on inferno before wrapping up the map 16-6.

Overpass saw a resurgent Breakaway nip at the heels of the hounds early, only losing the half by three (9-6) to put them in a good position to charge home in the second half.

After the break though, Breakaway fell apart, losing the first two rounds in horrific fashion and never recovering, losing both the map 16-7 and the series 2-0.

Grayhound have now booked their date with Chiefs tomorrow in a battle to see who is the best team in the region. See it live at Supanova Brisbane from 2pm AEST at the ESL stage or streamed live.

The Gfinity Elite Series is back this weekend for Season 2 as the six franchises return to see if Melbourne ORDER will continue their dominance or if someone else can rise to the top.

To kick things off for the three game competition, we’ll see CS:GO on Saturday and both the best in the region and the rising stars fight for their share of $80,000.

Melbourne ORDER

Coming off the back of a good OCE shuffle, ORDER are heading into the Elite Series as the strong favourites to pick up back to back CS:GO Championships. With their main squad looking near unbeatable by most teams here, you can understand why.

The only downside to Melbourne ORDER is their secondary squad, which has been changed massively since last season with most players moving to other Gfinity rosters.

While they will be likely facing weaker opposition (Week 2 being the obvious example with ESL AUNZ Finals), they will be hard press to beat a team like the Deceptors or even Ground Zero.

However, as the main squad will be playing the majority of the games, they should have no problems in making it to the finals and potentially rolling into another Elite Series win.

Sydney Chiefs

Last season’s runners up return to do it all again. After picking up MoeycQ from Avant, the core four of the Chiefs (texta N/A due to VAC rule) will be looking steal away the crown from ORDER.

The only thing is, can they even do it?

To be honest, it doesn’t look likely for not only the Chiefs, but for anyone to defeat the main ORDER squad in a multi-map series or even a Bo1 as it stands coming into the new Gfinity season.

Knowing the Chiefs though, they won’t go down without a fight, so expect them to make it deep into the playoffs.

Melbourne Avant Gaming

Avant have decided to go for a squad designed to pug it up and frag it out, not surprising given the heavy pug style evident in most teams during Season 1.

If it continues this season, which is likely, then this squad should be able to make it to finals with little worries, especially with the likes of pan1k and ju1ces in the squad.

However, if they get into finals (or when they face the main ORDER squad), they may start to falter as the loose pug style gets picked apart by teams that play a more structured game

The bellwether game for Avant will be against the Chiefs main core, as these games will decide who’s the 2nd best in the competition. But if they meet in the semis, which is highly likely, then the Chiefs should have the structural edge over a best of three series –  something Avant doesn’t have with this lineup.

Sydney Roar

After making finals in Season 1, the Roar have had a horrid off-season, losing everyone from their season 1 lineup bar Topgun without finding too many suitable replacements in either firepower or IGLing skills.

While it will be tough for them to find much more than a single win, if players like zemp, Topgun and Fakedan lift at the same time, they could be able to play spoiler.

However, with the back-markers from last season looking stronger than ever, it may just be the Roar pulling off the Shanghai Dragons season in the Elite Series.

Brisbane Deceptors

The MC-Esports lineup return to the Elite Series as one after being split up in the first season.

After their respective performances in Season 1, they will be looking to make it into the finals.

While they will be a contender for the final playoff spot, they will be competing against an emboldened Ground Zero and possibly Avant in looking for a playoffs berth. Look out for the Ground Zero vs Deceptors game as an indicator as to whether the Brisbane squad can make it, or will crash out.

If they do make the finals, it will more than likely be in 4th place, meaning a date with ORDER and with that a probable exit in the semi finals.

But can they make it that far? Only time will tell.

Perth Ground Zero

Ground Zero have gone from strength to strength since barely missing out on playoffs last season. Adding the likes of BURNRUOk and deStiny to their roster and being highly competitive in ESL AUNZ, they barely missed out on a LAN spot to Avant Gaming.

With this momentum heading into the Elite Series, they are the favourites to gain the final spot in playoffs or even a cheeky 3rd if Avant have a poor time.

Plus, having their full roster while other teams are playing with backup lineups, this affords Ground Zero an even bigger shot of making it to playoffs.

The six teams will begin their Elite Series Season 2 journey on Saturday in front of a live audience at the Gfinity Arena in Sydney.

You can check out the schedule for the whole season at gfinityesports.com.au along with ticketing and broadcasting information.