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Australia’s first city-based esports competition wrapped up its first ever regular season last weekend, with some big twists at the death ensuring the CS:GO, Rocket League and Street Fighter competitions won’t be short of talking points heading into the finals series.
Here are five things we learned from Week 5 of the Gfinity Elite Series.
It was always going to be an uphill battle for the two newly-created clubs (the Brisbane Deceptors and Sydney Roar) to compete in the first season of the Elite Series.
Indeed, heading into the final week of the season there were three winless teams; Brisbane’s CS:GO and Rocket League outfits, as well as the Roar’s Street Fighter team.
But two of those sides were able to register their maidens wins of Season 1 this past weekend, with the huge upset being Sydney’s Street Fighter team knocking off previously undefeated Melbourne Avant.
It was ugly at times for the new kids on the block in 2018 – especially in Rocket League – but this week’s results in particular proved the gap between first and worst isn’t as wide as we thought it’d be at the start of the year.
In fact, the Deceptors’ Street Fighter ended up only missing the top four on round differential, while the Roar’s CS:GO team will be featuring in the finals – an unfathomable prospect at the start of the season.
Speaking of which…
If you were told your first final was against a team with a 2-3 record, coming off a loss, you wouldn’t exactly be feeling nervous.
If you’re on Melbourne Order’s CS:GO team, however, you’d want to be taking this one seriously.
It’s no secret there’s serious talent on the Roar’s roster, although it’s also no secret they’ve struggled to bring their best consistently.
But, their best is very, very good.
The most lopsided CS:GO result of the season was their Week 1 16-2 demolition of the Sydney Chiefs – who finished the season in second place and pushed Order to extra rounds on Saturday.
Sydney’s second side did enough to prove they weren’t just making up the numbers in the competition and, while they rightly start as underdogs against Melbourne, they should prove they’re not just top four filler either.
This column has harped on for a (relatively) long time about both Avant’s need to improve despite sitting in first, as well as their uncanny ability to win Street Fighter games 4-3.
On Sunday they were involved in a fifth consecutive 4-3 result although, on this occasion, it went the other way in a somewhat discouraging loss to the previously winless Roar.
Melbourne Avant may be in first, but they’ve got room for improvement. (Photo: Gfinity Australia)
Once again, it was left to RumoursOfGhosts to do the heavy lifting for Avant. His decisive wins over Freeser and DaleNVRFails helped offset losses by teammates, before a win by SpaceGhost in Round 6 helped the Melbourne side get to a decider.
It was a rematch between RumoursOfGhosts and DaleNVRFails in the decisive Round 7, but this time Dale didn’t fail – handing Rumours just his second round loss of the season.
Rumours has been super impressive all season, especially when you consider he’s a tax lawyer by day, but it simply can’t all be left to him if Avant are contend for the title.
They enter the playoffs in first place, but they’ve only won 57 per cent of their rounds. They’ve still got work to do.
Some of the more established esports clubs in the Elite Series had their top teams temporarily off in other competitions, fielding reserve sides in their stead.
Seeing teams bring in an entirely new roster of top tier players mid-competition irked some fans – and Perth Ground Zero would have rightly been aggrieved after they ran into returning superstar line-ups twice.
Their Rocket League team was the first to eat the dust of the Chiefs’ national champions, before the next week saw their CS:GO side bowled over by an unrecognisable Melbourne Order line-up.
That said, Ground Zero only have themselves to blame for their disappointing finish to the season after two extremely underwhelming performances against Brisbane sides they were expected to brush aside.
The opening CS:GO match between Avant and the Roar was billed as a win-and-in encounter because nobody expected Perth to be troubled by the Deceptors. One shocking 16-12 loss later and Perth – the only CS:GO team to win their first two matches – found themselves eliminated from the finals.
Their Street Fighter side booked their place in the finals once they’d taken a 3-2 lead over Brisbane on Sunday night, but they then proceeded to lose the next two rounds in an overall uninspiring performance.
While it’s a different story in Rocket League, it was a disappointing weekend for Ground Zero who, as little as two weeks ago, were a sure bet to contend heavily in all three finals series.
It hasn’t always been pretty for the Chiefs this season – and they only won two of their three matches this weekend – but if you could only pick one team to claim a title in two week’s time, you’d be picking these guys.
They finished the season undefeated in Rocket League – the only undefeated individual team in the competition. Rheir CS:GO finished second after pushing the white-hot Order to extra rounds on Saturday, while their Street Fighter team looks to have hit form at the right time of year.
Are they the favourites in all three competitions? No. But if anyone’s going to claim multiple championships in a fortnight, this team looks the most likely.