[t,5680,au,9105,10586,10587,10588,11141] become the two-time champions of ESL Australia & NZ Championship Finals for Season 2, after defeating [t,6010,au,8765,9108,11139,11140,11485] in the Grand final 3-1 (16-14 de_mirage, 6-16 de_cache, 16-6 de_nuke, 16-6 de_train).

The best-of-five Grand final began with Athletico securing the first pistol round on Mirage to lead 3-0. A triple-kill on the A bombsite from Liam "⁠malta⁠" Schembri helped Chiefs pick up their first round, who continued to be a constant threat to the opposing team throughout the CT half. Chiefs manage to clinch the 8-7 lead due to Joshua "⁠INS⁠" Potter's 1v3 clutch in the final round.

The boys in blue began to pull ahead after claiming the necessary pistol round to lead 11-7 until Stuart "⁠sonic⁠" Rayner's side halted the streak with a round win. However, a forcebuy from Chiefs and a 1v2 AWP clutch after the post-plant from Michael "⁠Lightstep⁠" Hall allowed his team to reach 14-8. Travis "⁠wizard⁠" Richardson kept Athletico on board with a triple-kill but the emergence of Jesse "⁠InfrequeNt⁠" Barker's AWPing gave Athletico the opportunity to come back from behind to take the map 16-14.



Another trophy added to Athletico's cabinet

Despite letting the first map slip out of their hands, Tyler "⁠tucks⁠" Reilly and company reset themselves and presented a more convincing CT side on Cache with ten rounds on the board. Athletico were able to win the second pistol round to increase their chance for another comeback but a forcebuy from Chiefs in the following round prevented that. On the back of malta's impressive form, Chiefs claimed the second map 16-6 and tied the series 1-1.

Heading into Nuke, Chiefs carried their momentum when Alistair "⁠aliStair⁠" Johnston's triple usp kills obtained the first pistol round for them. Once Athletico were equipped with better equipment and weapons, they managed to reverse the scoreline with the mongolian overlord Erdenetsogt "⁠erkaSt⁠" Gantulga bringing forth chaos, taking a 11-4 Terrorist half. Athletico rolled over Chiefs in the same fashion with a 16-6 win their way.

One map ahead in the clash, Athletico came out on top in the pistol round and the next round. Chiefs didn't back down once they had upgraded guns to bring it back 3-2 their way. A magnificent quadruple kill involving a 1v2 clutch from Jay "⁠Liazz⁠" Tregillgas switch the situation quickly giving his team to build on their momentum to another 11-4 CT half.

In the second pistol round, Lightstep was left in a 1v4 situation and managed to take three enemies down with a couple seconds away from pulling off the smoke defuse clutch but once again erkaSt saved the day with the knife kill. Despite the valiant efforts of Chiefs to get back in the game, it was not enough as the domestic champions went on to defend their title with another 16-6 win on Train. Athletico continue their reign and dominance in the Oceanic region ending the series with a 3-1 victory.

ESL Australia & NZ Championship Season 2 Finals Best of 5 Athletico Matchpage 3 1 Chiefs 16 Mirage 14 6 Cache 16 16 Nuke 6 16 Train 6

Athletico K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Erdenetsogt 'erkaSt' GantulgaerkaSt 79 - 59 +20 85.5 1.22 Jesse 'InfrequeNt' BarkerInfrequeNt 73 - 64 +9 86.5 1.18 Jay 'Liazz' TregillgasLiazz 65 - 61 +4 72.3 1.06 Travis 'wizard' Richardsonwizard 68 - 70 -2 72.0 1.03 Stuart 'sonic' Raynersonic 60 - 68 -8 71.3 0.96 Chiefs K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Liam 'malta' Schembrimalta 79 - 72 +7 88.0 1.17 Joshua 'INS' PotterINS 70 - 67 +3 78.4 1.06 Michael 'Lightstep' HallLightstep 65 - 65 0 68.1 0.99 Alistair 'aliStair' JohnstonaliStair 59 - 70 -11 75.5 0.93 Tyler 'tucks' Reillytucks 49 - 73 -24 60.8 0.80

ESL Australia & NZ Championship Season 2 final standings: