UK Masters: Week 3

Last week we saw the third week of the Multiplay UK Masters play out with the games being some pretty intense ones at that. Kicking things off, we saw top-dogs Orgless face the under performers, Ionic. As well as the recently defunct Molotovs & Marshmallows spot, utilised by a mixed lineup, against The Working Men.

The first match was an opportunity Ionic really needed to harness, with it being a bleak sight as they are parked sufficiently at the bottom of the table. On the flip side, some say this was an opportunity for Orgless to further extend their lead.

Unfortunately for Ionic we witnessed Orgless come out swinging, hungry for blood, decimating them early on, taking an early lead, before continuing to edge out the first map in a fairly convincing manner, leaving us to a 16 – 2 for Orgless over on Cobblestone.

Ionic had one last shot to pick up a map during Week 3, with that shot being an opportunity on Cache and to Ionic’s credit, they fought hard, only finding themselves a handful of rounds down, a feat that eventually led them to a half of 8-7. An unfortunate result followed as Orgless played things round-by-round, frag-by-frag, effectively whittling down any motivation Ionic had left as they eventually squeezed out the 2nd map, 16-10.

Next we saw The Working Men play Molotovs & Marshmallows, with TWM finding themselves sitting in a fairly strong mid-field position on the fixtures, with MnM close by. The first map, Mirage, flew by fairly quickly as the Jakem-led squad found themselves 8-0 up going into the 9th round. The first half ended 12 – 3, with a few fledgeling rounds being picked up by the MnM side. Things took to a bloody end, with MnM only managing 1 round in the 2nd half, leading to a 16 – 4 win in the first map.

Cache thankfully took a more hopeful position among MnM fans, as they proved to be much more successful, finding a good foothold early on leading to a 10 – 5 half. Things didn’t stop there, however, as they stringed together a couple of rounds, leading to some good core momentum, closing out the map 16-7.

With Day 1 of Week 3 complete, we headed swiftly into Day 2 on Wednesday, with once again some strong matchup’s set. Riot Gaming vs Reason Gaming, followed by FM eSports vs Team Infused.

To set the pace, it would be Riot vs Reason over on Cache, a match that provided a perfect viewing experience as things were kept within inches early on, with rounds being traded back and forth, this was until Reason stepped up and started chaining together back to back rounds, leading to an 11-4 halftime. Though Riot didn’t let it end here, as they began to find their own chain, taking frags in a spectacular fashion, which led to a pretty impressive comeback as they brought it back to 11-11, before following through with a 16-14 win.

Reason opened strong on Cobblestone, taking a fairly firm grip on Riot that unfortunately, seemed to be fatal, with rounds flying by left right and centre, ending in a loose score of 16-3, leaving Reason vs Riot in a draw for their matchup.

The last match-up of the week was looked at as a potentially perfect series, with both FM eSports and Team Infused being strong teams, it was hopeful we would see a strong display of UK Counterstrike. Train certainly delivered, with a fairly neck and neck game early on, with both teams staying fairly close in round difference, for the most part, until we saw FM start to gain some traction. This led to a 10 – 5 half. FM began to hold their grip tight as they marched on forward within the 2nd half, with some notable players to boot, including an ace, as they swiftly closed things out 16-11 over Team Infused.

Map 2, Cobblestone, proved to be an uphill battle for Infused, as they simply failed to get anything going, right up until it was practically too late. Thankfully, things began to kick in for them and they managed to break away from the 8-1 lead that FM had taken, finding themselves 5 rounds in comparison to FM’s 10. Unfortunately, it was all but a little too late, as Infused only managed to find two CT rounds, leaving FM to mop up the rest on their dominant T side, claiming a 16-7 win.

This final map, concluded a week of some strong games, with both some entertaining victories and some heart-wrenching defeats. You can check out the fixtures below, including some more in-depth statistics for those of you who are fond.