magic narrowly upset 9z for the EWC playoff spot

EWC hasn’t had any major scalps fall out yet, until today.

magic, one of last season’s big risers, has taken the scalp of 9z, sending them back home and taking a playoff spot for themselves. This is just the latest result in a pretty encouraging streak across qualifiers and small events. This series was especially good because it showed real resilience.

What happened?

Well, it was a knife fight from beginning to end.

Map one was bizarrely close, as the teams couldn't be separated. That isn’t just sport writer lingo; it was actually 6:6/6:6 into both halves. It even took a second overtime to decide the map at 19:17, since in the end, AW and tenzy were too much for 9z to handle. The pair went 12-2 in opening duels on the map, an outrageous success rate.

Unfortunately, that form didn’t quite carry into map two.

Instead of a 1.7 and a 1.5 topping the board, they had a 1.17 and a 1.13. Not bad, but it wasn’t enough to beat a 9z side that’s figured out how to be hard to beat at the highest level. What also helped them was that Max showed up to play on Dust 2, giving them the edge over magic. Still, it was a remarkably close 13:10 that could’ve gone another way had magic found momentum a bit earlier on their T-side.

If you thought the decider would be boring after this, you’d be wrong.

Inferno delivered completely, with clutches, a comeback attempt, and all the heart attacks you need. All because the first half was really dominant, magic found its rhythm, and shut down everything 9z tried. They built a 9:3 lead that nearly got them over the hump, but 9z won the pistol and kept themselves alive.

And they kept keeping themselves alive.

Suddenly, it was magic who couldn’t get anything done as 9z shut it down. Then, when magic finally could get a foothold into a site, Max clutched up and kept it tight as suddenly it was 9:8, then 9:9. But it wasn’t meant to be as tenzy and AW had other plans for this series. With an entry from tenzy and a decent late round from AW, magic took the lead back, and with the last five rounds going 4-1 in magic’s favor, the series was over.

magic will be playing a team from the upper bracket, so their event won’t be easy from here, but with this win, they’ll be fancying themselves an upset.

Who knows how far they can make it from here.