Team Pandemic - News - Pandemic drops rival, top seed EG, in playoffs R2

After an impressive 13-5 victory over 50 Calibre during round one of the CEVO-Professional Season 2 playoffs Monday, Pandemic looked in prime position to continue their winning streak with the return of Jason “crzg” Pielemeier. As if by a stroke of fate, however, Pandemic would be meeting long time rival EG the following round, who defeated Pandemic in their final regular season match to go undefeated with an impressive 15-0 record and the first seed in playoffs. With the pressure of dropping to the lower bracket and a longer road to the finals, Pandemic did what they do best when it matters, win.

Set on mp_strike, the match started off with Pandemic winning the knife round and choosing offense, usually considered the less favorable side of the map, to start with. Since playoffs use a play to win format, this already tipped the momentum in EG's favor. The AEF champions did not let the early mind games get to their heads as they came out guns blazing round one on offense with a strong A bombsite push to start things in the right direction. A few traded rounds later, in round 6, down by a narrow 2-3 margin, Pielemeier and long time teammate dating back to pre-pandemic days Keith “keithsu” Hullenaar pulled out the first clutch of the match for Pandemic, picking up a much needed round in a tight 2v3 situation.

EG did not back down, however, taking the following round and leaving Pandemic team captain Joe “nabore” Amorosa in a seemingly impossible 1v4 clutch situation with the bomb planted the round after that. It seemed, however, that tonight the impossible would be possible for Pandemic as Amorosa planted himself behind the back fountain inside the A bombsite and systematically picked off the opposition one at a time. Boosted by the momentum of Amorosa's incredible 1v4 clutch Pandemic proceeded to pick up the following 2 rounds in succession with multiple early sniper frags from Justin "prank" DeMara before trading one back to EG and then winning the final round of the half, leading EG 7-5 on the harder side of the map.

With their confidence high, Pandemic stormed onto defense with Hullenaar picking up three huge frags inside the A bombsite to give Pandemic a three round lead, their largest of the game. EG would not go down without a fight, however, proving why time and time again they are a championship contender, picking up the following three rounds with dominance and leaving David “skinz” Patnode in a tough 1v2 situation against EG's Rob “rob-wiz” Kennedy and Adam “deny” Phan. Again, the impossible was possible as Patnode played cool and smart, defending the bottom flower building where the bomb had been dropped to pick up two quick frags on Kennedy and Phan from two opposite directions and put Pandemic in a 9-8 lead.

Two more traded rounds later with a 10-9 lead Pandemic needed to close the match quickly before EG could get the chance to make a comeback. Unfortunately things were already looking bad as Pandemic quickly fell to a 2v4 situation in the 20th round once again with only Pielemeier and Hullenaar standing. As if by some miracle, however, Pielemeier and Hullenaar slowly but confidently picked up one frag after another to once again send another clutch round Pandemic's way.

With an 11-9 lead and all the momentum behind them, Pandemic closed out the match in the following two rounds to hand the #1 seed, EG, their first loss of the season, and simultaneously advance to the upper bracket finals. In a post-match interview done by Gamefire, Pandemic owner Chris Lemley commented, “I'm glad the team is back playing at the level they were this summer LAN season, and despite a tough regular season, we won where it matters, playoffs.”

EG is of course by no means out of the fight just yet as they will now drop to the lower bracket to battle their way to the grand final. Pandemic, meanwhile, will await to play the winner of MoB Gaming vs Team Dynamic next Monday, October 6th on mp_citystreets. Be sure to catch all of the CEVO-P playoff matches on-demand over at www.gamefire.com and tune in on match nights for LIVE streaming coverage!