MIHAJA
MCL Playcon Event Overview
This year’s MCL Playcon tournament featured 4 teams fighting for a share of the €1,500 prize pool. The online qualifiers were hosted on Faceit and similar to last year’s event, the grand final was played on stage at Playcon in front of a live audience.
Online Qualifiers
The online qualifiers took place a week prior to the event and were hosted on Faceit. The opening matchups saw Pastizzi Peek vs MTky5 and TallinjaPEEK vs Venom. There were no first-round upsets as the stronger teams made quick work of their opponents with TallinjaPEEK and Pastizzi Peek seeling 13 – 3 and 13 – 8 victories respectively.
In the elimination matchup Venom would get the better of MTky5 with a 13 – 7 victory on Inferno and knocking the latter out of the tournament in last place. Over in the winners’ match, TallinjaPEEK cruised to a comfortable 6 – 1 lead before Pastizzi Peek mounted a spirited comeback, narrowly securing the match 13 – 11.
Venom would once again face off against TallinjaPeek in the loser’s bracket final but their fortunes would not change as TallinjaPeek eased to another comfortable victory on Ancient with a 13 – 5 scoreline, knocking Venom out of the tournament and securing a spot in the grand finals at Playcon.
Grand Finals
The grand final was shaping up to be a hotly contested match and it did not disappoint. Pastizz Peek struck first securing a strong 13 – 7 score on their map pick Mirage. However, TallinjaPeek were quick to strike back, surviving an overtime scare on Ancient and eventually closing out the map 16 – 12. Both teams had all to play for on Vertigo and it would be TallinjaPeek getting revenge for the qualifier matchup and winning the tightly contested map, along with the whole tournament, 13 – 11.
Final Standings & Prize Pool Distribution
- 1st – TallinjaPEEK – €1,000
- 2nd – Pastizzi Peek – €500
- 3rd – Venom
- 4th – MTky5
The event page and full bracket can be accessed here.
MCL announce a halt to events for the foreseeable future
Local Counter-Strike fans will be disappointed to hear that the 2nd edition of MCL Playcon will mark the end of events for the Malta Counter-Strike League with MCL admin Zellion taking to the official discord to make the announcement citing “lack of funding as well as other circumstances”. While the MCL might return in the future, the official statement reads that “this is very far away from now”. This is undoubtedly a big blow to the local scene and follows a concerning trend of communities and tournament organisers downsizing or seizing operations due to a lack of local support.
We would like to thank the MCL Admins as well as all those involved in organising all MCL events and tournaments for their continuous effort and dedication to the local Counter-Strike scene over the past two years. We will eagerly await your return!
Zelli0n
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