EsportsXO find themselves top of the Group B table after their third win in as many games so far in the Group Stage of TEC Gauntlet Season 2. The former Samurai Esports stack completed a straight maps series win (13-5 Ascent, 13-8 Icebox) over Orgless 5.
XO opted for a Sova-Skye combination, with Karan ‘Excali’ Mhaswadkar donning the Skye role while Orgless 5 went for a standard composition. XO started with a B rush on the Attack that yielded them the plant and the round. However, as the full buy rolled in for Orgless 5, they soon took up a 3-2 lead, with a shutdown at A mains and short. XO soon went on a roll, with five rounds in succession as three crucial kills by Prabhdeep ‘Ghost’ Bhatia opened up the A site brilliantly. Two clean defences of their plant sites meant Orgless 5 went into the second half with a minor 5-7 deficit. Two opening kills from Simar ‘psy’ Sethi from within the smoke at B Defenders entrance handed XO the boost, with Saransh ‘whimp’ Dang converting the 1v1 over Harsh ‘bullseye’ Yadav to lap up the pistol. Ghost pulled out the Operator and got three kills with it on the 15th round to make it 10-5 in favour of XO, who soon found themselves on map point after a flawless defensive round. It was a haphazard ending, with Orgless 5 trying to hit several areas of the map. However, XO ended things quickly to close out the map 13-5.
Both XO and Orgless 5 opted for an identical composition on Icebox, with the latter the quicker out the gates, racing to a 4-0 lead on defence, with Raghav ‘NaiveJester’ Chadha grabbing a triple kill on the fourth round. XO seem to be experimenting a bit, with Excali on the Killjoy. Ghost took matters into his own hands, literally this time, getting two opening kills with the Blade Storm to end Orgless 5’s streak and put XO on the board for the map. Ghost stepped up massively, with the Operator and more, with a triple kill on the 11th round making it 7-4. Orgless 5 though, saw bullseye step up for his side with a double kill to end the half once again with a minor 5-7 deficit. Excali copped up with a triple kill from Defensive side rafters to land the pistol. Kevin ‘Kev’ Sherla grabbed four kills on the Jett with the Phantom to pull one back but XO responded immediately as psy stepped up with a triple kill. Two consecutive rounds from Orgless 5 cut XO’s lead into half at 8-10. But, XO pulled off two rounds to move to map and series point. Orgless 5 opted for a mid-A split but XO completed a flawless defence of the same area, with Ghost ending things in style, getting the Blade Storm kill on NaiveJester.
Ghost was the aggressor for XO in the series win, with the former Enigma Gaming star lapping up an ADR of 201.7 over the two maps along with 44 kills in total, making him our WD Black MVP of the series.
