PENTA defeated BIG 2-0 (Cache 16-13, Inferno 16-12) in the grand final of ESEA Season 24's MDL Global Finals for the $18,000 grand prize.

After PENTA and BIG came out on top of their semi-final battles with Splyce and GODSENT, respectively, the two grand finalists met on Cache at first. PENTA were the ones to get an early 4-0 lead much thanks to Kevin "⁠HS⁠" Tarn's triple in the pistol round.

Many of the rounds afterward came down to individual plays, as Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik, Kevin "⁠keev⁠" Bartholomäus, Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi, and Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz all had their moments with at least three kills, making it 8-4 in favor of PENTA. A B attack then gave BIG their fifth round, but Kevin "⁠kRYSTAL⁠" Amend's team closed out the half at 10-5 with suNny putting up a crucial double in the last.

Three kills from the Finn pushed his squad to 13-5, but from there on BIG made a stand on the defense, winning seven rounds in a row on the back of strong holds and a 1v1 from Johannes "⁠nex⁠" Maget.

PENTA broke the streak with a half-buy consisting of pistols, a bit of utility, and armor, as suNny picked up a triple with a Deagle for 14-12. gob b then replied with three kills of his own in a 3v5, but BIG ultimately couldn't come back fully as PENTA won their opponent's pick 16-13.

suNny continued to put up big numbers on Cache

Despite losing the pistol round due to keev shutting down the attack, it was PENTA who got off to the better start on Inferno after winning the second round forcebuy, going up 4-1 as BIG saved their weapons twice in a row.

gob b then prevented a dangerous 1v3 attempt from suNny before the Finnish player got a double entry on A thanks to lucky timing, helping PENTA extend their lead to 6-2.

Grenades down mid helped BIG win an eco round, followed by a narrow 1v1 on the A bombsite for 4-6. While the German side continued saving weapons time and time again, PENTA took the next three rounds just before BIG made the half 6-9.

The first two rounds of the second half were split once more, although this time it was BIG who came out swinging, closing the gap to 9-10 and eventually taking the lead 12-11 after a streak of three rounds.

However, PENTA had a few great reads and defended the B bombsite twice, while HS put up two crucial doubles over two of the last three rounds, securing the map and the series for his team at 16-12.

PENTA K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Miikka 'suNny' KemppisuNny 50 - 33 +17 93.1 1.36 Paweł 'innocent' Mocekinnocent 45 - 35 +10 83.1 1.22 Kevin 'HS' TarnHS 38 - 36 +2 74.1 1.09 Kevin 'kRYSTAL' AmendkRYSTAL 33 - 33 0 59.3 1.01 Jesse 'zehN' LinjalazehN 30 - 40 -10 70.2 0.90 BIG K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarztabseN 48 - 40 +8 83.6 1.17 Nikola 'LEGIJA' NinićLEGIJA 37 - 38 -1 86.4 1.08 Fatih 'gob b' Dayikgob b 34 - 38 -4 70.3 1.00 Kevin 'keev' Bartholomäuskeev 33 - 42 -9 67.3 0.92 Johannes 'nex' Magetnex 25 - 39 -14 42.7 0.68

ESEA S24 Global Challenge - MDL Global Finals final standings: