Rare Atom get revenge against MIBR to qualify for playoffs in Valencia

Rare Atom have secured their place in the playoffs of ESL Challenger Valencia after upsetting the Brazilians of MIBR in what was a rematch of the opening match of the tournament. The Chinese side first won their map pick of Inferno with a dominant 16-7 scoreline, before moving on to Overpass, which is the map they lost in the opening match. Rare Atom looked to have learned from their mistakes however, as they won the map after a marathon game 31-29 and set up a semi-final match against the new-look Outsiders team.

MIBR meanwhile are no doubt disappointed with a group stage exit, especially after suffering the same fate in the Pinnacle Cup Championship recently. They will hope to make a better impression at IEM Cologne, which they begin in the Play-in stage with a match against Movistar Riders on Tuesday.

The series began on Inferno, where Rare Atom got off to an amazing start on their T side. They won the pistol and converted it to a 5-0 lead, before MIBR were able to get two rounds of their own on the board. Andrew “⁠Kaze⁠” Khong‘s 1v2 clutch put the Chinese side 7-2 up and they didn’t drop a single round after that, winning the half with a rampant 13-2 scoreline.

A pistol round for the Brazilians made things at least somewhat close, but a gamble stack on the B site at 14-7 put Rare Atom on map point, which they converted immediately and moved the series on to Overpass.

This time it was MIBR who got off to the better start, racing to a 4-1 lead after winning the pistol round on the back of a 3k by Matheus “⁠Tuurtle⁠” Anhaia and converting the following rounds. A forcebuy by the Chinese side got the scoreline to 4-2, and they didn’t drop a single round after that with a streak of ten rounds, giving them a 11-4 lead at half time.

Rare Atom continued their hot streak into the second half, winning the pistol round and converting it to a 13-4 lead. Things looked bleak for the Brazilians, but a 3k by their newest recruit Breno “⁠brnz4n⁠” Poletto gave them a second wind which enabled them to get back into the game. The only two rounds that Rare Atom were able to get were because of individual plays by Yi “⁠JamYoung⁠” Yang, as MIBR clawed back the deficit to push the game into overtime.

Overtime was a marathon affair, with Rare Atom more often than not fighting back to deny their opponents a map win with clutches by Zhuo “⁠advent⁠” Liang and JamYoung, before finally closing out the map after five overtimes with a 31-29 scoreline.