Michael "Grim" Wince and Rahul "curry" Nemani's last ride with Triumph was a successful one as they helped the team earn promotion to ESL Pro League with a 3-0 series victory over TeamOne.
After ESEA officially canceled MDL Global Challenge Season 33 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was determined that the MDL Season 33 playoffs bracket in each region would be played out to completion. In North America, Triumph, Bad News Bears, and TeamOne were the teams who had been left standing in the bracket, but due to the disbanding of Peter "ptr" Gurney's side, only the Brazilian roster and Triumph were left to play for a sole spot in ESL Pro League Season 12.
The match marked Grim and curry's final outing with the roster, with the former preparing to embark on a new chapter of his career as a part of Liquid, and the latter turning his focus towards college. The pair's last hurrah as a part of Triumph was a successful one as Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman's troops entered the series against TeamOne with a one-map advantage, a result of them going undefeated in the upper bracket during the playoffs of MDL Season 33. Swift victories on Nuke and Inferno helped the team make short work of the Brazilian roster, earning them one of the final two spots in ESL's premier league. Sprout will take on AGO in the European grand finals for the final spot, with the match set to play out on August 17 at 17:00 .
Grim and curry helped secure Triumph promotion to EPL in their final outing
It was a strong performance from Gabe "Spongey" Greiner that helped put Triumph in control at the onset of Nuke, combining with Grim as the team charged ahead to an 11-4 lead at the end of their offensive effort. A pistol round victory and subsequent conversions gave TeamOne a moment of respite as they closed the gap, but multi-kill rounds from curry, Paytyn "junior" Johnson, and Spongey took Triumph over the line with a 16-9 map win.
TeamOne fared better on Inferno, making up for an 0-3 start by securing five rounds in a row to take the lead. The double AWP of curry and junior helped Triumph get back into the running, remaining steadfast in their defense to pull ahead 8-7 at halftime. However, the momentum of Pedro "Maluk3" Campos and company ran out following the side swap as Triumph once again took control on the T side, conceding only two additional rounds as they brought the series to a swift close to earn their promotion.
ESEA MDL Season 33 North America FinalsBest of 5 TriumphMatchpage 3 0 8th August 2020 TeamOne 1Default 0 16Nuke 8 16Inferno 9
Triumph
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim
45 - 28
+17
90.9
1.40
Paytyn 'junior' Johnsonjunior
40 - 25
+15
77.2
1.36
Gabe 'Spongey' GreinerSpongey
41 - 28
+13
89.7
1.31
Rahul 'curry' Nemanicurry
36 - 30
+6
76.1
1.21
Alan 'Shakezullah' HardemanShakezullah
26 - 30
-4
73.6
1.03
TeamOne
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Bruno 'b4rtiN' Câmarab4rtiN
33 - 31
+2
68.8
0.98
Matheus 'prt' Scuveroprt
29 - 35
-6
73.4
0.97
Matheus 'pesadelo' Panissetpesadelo
24 - 40
-16
66.1
0.80
Mario 'malbsMd' SamayoamalbsMd
28 - 46
-18
66.1
0.76
Pedro 'Maluk3' CamposMaluk3
23 - 37
-14
52.5
0.70
The team list for ESL Pro League Season 12 now looks as follows: