All information to the ECS-Series 8 Finals 2019
The Esports Championship Series was the successor of the FACEIT League, which ended in 2015. The last edition of the ECS took place at the end of 2019 and was the eighth. While the tournament is held in Europe and North America, the finals take place in the USA, more precisely in Texas.
In total, eight teams were qualified for the finals of the eighth edition. Alongside the four top teams Astralis, Evil Geniuses, fnatic and Liquid, NiP, AVANGER, MIBR and Sharks were qualified. The group stage took place in a Swiss system and with two wins the teams were through to the playoffs. The tournament was divided into two groups.
European Qualification Tournament
The tournament was played in a single elimination bo3. The opening round held two small surprises. Alongside a clear defeat of mousesports against Virtus.Pro, North lost 1:2 against Tricked. In the semifinals VP qualified against FaZe with a 2:1 and fnatic with a clear 2:0 against Tricked Esports. The final victory and thus the last remaining spot for the ECS World Series was secured by fnatic in a clear match against Virtus.Pro. They won 2:0 on Overpass and Mirage, mainly due to an incredible performance by Brollan.
American Qualifying Tournament
Apart from the Brazilian favorites MIBR, only INTZ was really worth mentioning, finishing disappointingly on 5th place. Unsurprisingly, it was the team around IGL FalleN that won the tournament and secured their place in the next round.
Winner and tournament MVP
Group stage
Playoffs
Surprises and disappointments
Performance of the individual teams
- Astralis: Dominant and confident victory in the tournament.
- Evil Geniuses: Lost in the group against Liquid, clearly eliminated in the game against Astralis
- fnatic: Solid group stage, in the end too weak against Liquid
- Liquid: Appearance in the final a great success, Astralis just too strong
- NiP: Did not manage to surprise in the duel with Evil Geniuses - a pity
- AVANGAR: Weak performance, eliminated after the group with 0:2
- MIBR: Decisive duel with fnatic for promotion lost, performance okay
- Sharks: Without a chance