The Season 3 Benelux Finals took place yesterday with the four best teams from the nations of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg travelling to the ESL studio in Amsterdam to fight for the €7,500 prizepool and the title of Benelux champions!
Semi-Final 1: Trust Gaming 2-1 Flash Point Esports
Maps: Villa (7-2), Bank (7-8), Clubhouse (7-4)
Trust Gaming: Leonski, Deapek, Avaiche, Quadzy, Meadzzz
Flash Point Esports: JinxedOwl, AndThaAngle, Xoogle, Wishmaster, Sloth
Map One: Villa
In a repeat of last season's finals, Flash Point found themselves face to face with Trust Gaming again for a chance to reach the finals. They started off on the right foot by taking the first round away from the defenders of Trust Gaming, but it was Trust who found their groove, winning almost every round afterward. The only exception was an enthusiastic JinxedOwl, who popped up for a 4k to make the score 3-2 and give FP some hope, but a round away from parity was the closest Trust would allow, closing out the map 7-2 in their favour.
Map Two: Bank
The North American locale proved to be an indecisive battleground for our two teams as they took chunks out of one another across Bank. It looked momentarily like Trust was going to repeat their 2-0 scoreline from Season Two's finals, but despite two huge triple kills by Leonski as he held blue stairs with Valkyrie's SPAS-12, it was Flash Point who prevailed and overturned a match point to win 8-7, sending us to Clubhouse.
Map Three: Clubhouse
A rush by Flash Point on the first round as they attempted to catch their opponents by surprise bore no fruit, as Trust dealt with them adeptly to put themselves ahead.
It set the tone for the remainder of the map, with Trust victorious on their primary and secondary sites, only conceding their Gym/Master tertiary defense to FP both occasions. FP couldn't replicate the same kind of prowess and while they won their first two defensive rounds upstairs, they would lose the next three rounds to give Trust the map and match victory.
Semi-Final 2: Solwing Esports 2-0 ForeignFive
Maps: Border (8-7), Consulate (7-4), Oregon (Not Played)
Solwing Esports: Craxan, Dark, HzDeff, Kabouter, Fippsi
ForeignFive: Eastwood, Haze, PRiSM, Next1, imEdd
Map One: Border
A slightly topsy-turvy affair, Border played out in a rather strange manner, as each side racked up four consecutive attacking rounds in a row, yet could not improve beyond that to break the deadlock. With scores locked at 6-6 apiece, it was defence that proved the decisive side in overtime, handing Solwing an 8-7 map victory as they were given the opportunity to defend twice in overtime.
Map Two: Consulate
The second map proved to be a little more cut and dry, however. ForeignFive started things off strongly with four defensive round wins across their half and appeared to have the decider of Oregon ready to go.
A defensive masterclass from Solwing dispelled any hopes of that happening, as they won the next five rounds in a row to send themselves to the final with a shot at a maiden BNL title and €7,500.
Grand-Final: Trust Gaming vs Solwing Esports
Maps: Club House (7-0), Villa (7-3), Border (Not Played)
Trust Gaming: Leonski, Avaiche, Deapek, Quadzy, Meadzzz
Solwing Esports: Craxan, Dark, HzDeff, Kabouter, Fippsi
Map One: Club House
Any hope that Solwing Esports harboured coming into the final that they could catch Trust off-guard straight out of the gate was quickly and quietly snuffed out, with Trust's ability to win their gunfights put them in good stead, chalking up round upon round to complete a 7-0 rout of their opposition. With the title closing in on their grasp, Trust, and their Solwing adversaries now headed to Villa.
Map Two: Villa
A more even contest during the first half of Villa saw things tied up 3-3 and it appeared as though a third map could be on the cards. Trust Gaming's Villa defense was the deciding factor, however, as they demonstrated the map's defensive merits time and time again. In the process they redeem their defeat from Season Two to Team Demise and reestablish themselves as the team to beat within the Benelux region.
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That's all from our coverage of Season Three of the Benelux League! Stay tuned for Season Four and keep up with all the comings and goings of the competition via the Benelux R6 Twitter account
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