ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023: Grayhound through to playoffs, Vertex out in late-night thriller

Time Stamp: April 28, 2023 7:55 PM

The opening day of DreamHack has wrapped up after nearly 15 hours of CS action. Grayhound have punched their ticket through to the semifinals while Vertex have fallen short and are the first team eliminated from the event.

  • Grayhound beat EG and CoL
  • Movistar Riders sweep group stage
  • Vertex first team eliminated

The opening day of ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 is done and dusted with the Grayhound Gaming punching their way into the playoffs with wins over EG and Complexity. Vertex find themselves on the other side of the coin, being the first squad eliminated from the event.

The day kicked off in Group A with the opening match between Complexity and Ecstatic which set the tone for the games ahead. Despite it being midday on a Friday, the Australian crowd showed up in force and got behind all the action.

Grayhound got to kick off their Melbourne campaign against EG with a 16-11 victory on “INSferno”. Everyone on the Aussie side chipped in to get the squad over the line and secure themselves a date with Complexity, which would determine who would advance directly into the playoffs on day one of the event.

Declan “Vexite” Portelli and Jay “Liazz” Tregillgas put on a show when Vertigo showed up next and took matters into their own hands to deny the North American squad the win. Grayhound’s 16-11 win means there will be an Australian team in the playoffs for the event.

Meanwhile, Group B kicked off with Bad News Eagles handing a tough loss to Vertex who started 0-7 down on Vertigo and despite their best efforts, were unable to recover the map. Rare Atom and Movistar Riders clashed on Anubis but the Spaniards were able to edge out the win in overtime.

Facing elimination, Vertex and Rare Atom went at it in the first best of three for the event. Although they began the series with a lead after taking Vertigo, the wheels came off for the Aussie side and Rare Atom held onto tournament life, winning Inferno and Overpass to secure the series.

Rare Atom will face Bad News Eagles in the Group B decider match, while Movistar Riders will enjoy a day off alongside Grayhound who both await the remaining two semifinalists.

We’re covering everything ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023: streams, results, and more.

ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 Streams

All of ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 can be caught live on Twitch. You can watch along or catch up on any games via the ESL CS:GO Channel.

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ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 Schedule & Results

ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 will see the eight teams split into two groups. The groups are double-elimination (GSL) style, with knockout and decider matches being best-of-three. The top two teams from each group will advance to the playoffs.

The playoffs are single-elimination and will see teams placed into best-of-threes with the overall champion pocketing $50,000 USD and a direct invite to ESL Pro League Season 18.

ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 — Group Stage Schedule & Results

Match Teams Time (AEST)
Saturday, Apr 29
Group A – Elimination Match Ecstatic v EG.B 10:00am
Group B – Decider Match Bad News Eagles v Rare Atom 1:30pm
Group A – Decider Match Complexity v TBD 5:00pm
Match Teams Time (AEST)
Friday, Apr 28
Group A – Opening Match Complexity 16-14 Ecstatic 10:30am
EG.B 10-16 Grayhound 12:10pm
Group B – Opening Match Bad News Eagles 16-10 Vertex 2:15pm
Rare Atom 16-19 Movistar Riders 3:50pm
Group A – Winner’s Match Complexity 11-16 Grayhound 5:55pm
Group B – Winner’s Match Bad News Eagles 11-16 Movistar Riders 7:40pm
Group B – Elimination Match Vertex 1-2 Rare Atom 9:25pm

ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 Rosters

The last-minute addition of Movistar Riders in place of The Mongolz rounds out the eight squads that will be competing this weekend. Evil Geniuses are sending EG Black with HexT playing for Stanislaw for the event.

Stanislaw, EG Black - ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023
Veteran in-game leader Stanislaw won’t be present in Melbourne this weekend.

Without The Mongolz, there will only be three competing teams who will also be playing in Paris for the BLAST Major in just under a month. Grayhound and Complexity will look to qualify for the New Legends Stage, while Bad News Eagles await them.

Team Squad
Complexity Gaming JT FaNg floppy Grim Hallzerk
Bad News Eagles SENER1 gxx- juanflatroo sinnopsyy rigoN
Grayhound Gaming Sico INS aliStair Liazz Vexite
ECSTATIC maNkz kraghen Queenix salazar Nodios
Evil Geniuses Black Walco RUSH Jeorge junior HexT
VERTEX Esports Club pz BRACE malta ADDICT HaZR
Rare Atom advent kaze JamYoung Moseyuh Mercury
Movistar Riders mopoz ALEX dav1g Martinez sausol

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