After three days of play at the ESL Studios in Burbank, California, Rogue have emerged victorious taking the bulk of the $50,000 grand prize at the ESEA Season 23 Global Challenge LAN.

The day started out with the Australian team Tainted Minds taking on the favored LDLC. It only took two maps for the francophones to take it. The first map, Train, Tainted Minds' pick, was actually the easier of the two for the French-Belgian-British team. There, Antoine "⁠to1nou⁠" Pirard played another impressive map to add to an already strong weekend, posting a 28-13 KD for a 1.78 rating.



LDLC made it all the way to the final

Going into the second map, their own, it looked like LDLC were going to run away with it easily, but after the first half the Australian team was actually ahead by a more than ample margin, 11-4. Finally, though, the team lead by Kévin "⁠Ex6TenZ⁠" Droolans were able to bring it back to an incredibly tight 16-14 for a 2-0 win and a spot in the grand final.

ESEA Season 23 MDL Global Challenge Best of 3 LDLC Matchpage 2 0 Tainted Minds 16 Train 8 16 Overpass 14

LDLC K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Kévin 'Ex6TenZ' DroolansEx6TenZ 43 - 32 +11 86.6 1.32 Alexandre 'xms' Fortéxms 48 - 35 +13 90.3 1.30 Antoine 'to1nou' Pirardto1nou 42 - 28 +14 83.4 1.26 Alex 'ALEX' McMeekinALEX 38 - 32 +6 74.8 1.08 Valentin 'mistou' Balbastromistou 38 - 35 +3 77.8 1.02 Tainted Minds K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Connor 'chuch' Morganchuch 41 - 39 +2 81.9 1.05 Jesse 'InfrequeNt' BarkerInfrequeNt 35 - 37 -2 70.2 1.00 Jay 'Liazz' TregillgasLiazz 29 - 43 -14 74.2 0.84 Travis 'wizard' Richardsonwizard 32 - 44 -12 65.9 0.77 Stuart 'sonic' Raynersonic 25 - 46 -21 59.4 0.64

The other semifinal pitted two of the three favorite candidates to take the whole event, the Danish-Bulgarian ensemble of Rogue and Kinguin. The Polish side came into the match following two victories in the group stages while Rogue made it after beating Bravado 2-0 in the group A decider.

The first map was Rogue's pick, Mirage, where they were able to win the terrorist side 6-9 and the CT pistol round thanks to a big three kill round by Jesper "⁠TENZKI⁠" Plougmann. That catapulted them over the Polish side for a final scoreline of 16-12.

Kinguin were unable to turn the match around on their own map, Overpass. They started the match by winning the pistol round, but things quickly went south as Rogue only gave up two rounds in the half to win it 10-5. In the second half Rogue attacked and won the pistol round solidifying their lead to 13-5. The Danish-Bulgarian side gave a few more rounds up but was able to seal the deal 16-9 with Kamen "⁠bubble⁠" Kostadinov bringing the pain to the Poles with 103.7 ADR.

ESEA Season 23 MDL Global Challenge Best of 3 Kinguin Matchpage 0 2 Rogue 12 Mirage 16 9 Overpass 16

Rogue K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Jesper 'TENZKI' PlougmannTENZKI 46 - 25 +21 89.2 1.48 Nicolai 'glace' Jensenglace 45 - 28 +17 84.7 1.31 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN 38 - 25 +13 76.2 1.17 Kamen 'bubble' Kostadinovbubble 36 - 35 +1 84.9 1.12 Viktor 'v1c7oR' Dyankovv1c7oR 33 - 35 -2 69.5 1.03 Kinguin K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Michał 'MICHU' MüllerMICHU 41 - 40 +1 84.4 1.03 Damian 'Furlan' KislowskiFurlan 37 - 43 -6 76.4 0.89 Karol 'rallen' Rodowiczrallen 28 - 35 -7 65.5 0.88 Mikołaj 'mouz' Karolewskimouz 22 - 42 -20 55.5 0.73 Grzegorz 'SZPERO' DziamałekSZPERO 20 - 38 -18 57.2 0.67

The final match of the day and the tournament would be a rematch of their group A opener, LDLC vs. Rogue Ex6TenZ's side came out on top on Overpass during that opening match with a very solid display by the AWPer to1nou. This time, though, Overpass would not be played despite Rogue leaving it in the mix until the second round of bans.

The final started out on Dust2, LDLC's map, a map which Ex6TenZ became famous for after making it a staple in the French lineups he led. It started catastrophically for his squad, though, as an incredibly disjointed play was dissected and countered by Rogue who didn't lose a single player in the first pistol round.

LDLC played the second round after successfully making it out long and into A and were able to win it and put Rogue on a forcebuy of their own. They were then unable to follow it up, though, and went on to finish the half with a tilting 13-2 on the baord. With Viktor "⁠v1c7oR⁠" Dyankov's whistles resound throughout the venue, Rogue won the pistol round and bagged LDLC's pick.



Rogue dominated on the last day of play in Burbank

The second map, Train, ended up being a nail-biter and worthy of being played in the final. Rogue started out attacking and made the most of it, taking the pistol round and establishing an early lead. After winning the first couple gun rounds, it looked like it was going to be smooth sailing for the Danish-Bulgarian team, who were taking time to make hearts with their hands directed towards the cameras during LDLC's tactical pauses.

After the half, Rogue won the pistol round once again, four for four in the final, establishing a 12-4 and putting LDLC against the ropes. With a full tec buy the francophones were able to take the round and get back into the game, grinding their way back round by round. Eventually, Ex6TenZ & co. found themselves in the lead after winning 9 rounds in a row. With 13-12 on the board, the teams traded rounds here and there for a tie at the end for 30.

Rogue started on the CT side, and took the first round, which was followed up by a round for LDLC. That went on all the way to 18-18 and became a second overtime. This time around, though, it was all Rogue, who were starting on the T side. After abusing their superiority and taking the inner site several times, Rogue were able to secure a single round on the CT side to close it 22-18 to claim the trophy.

ESEA Season 23 MDL Global Challenge Best of 3 LDLC Matchpage 0 2 Rogue 2 Dust2 16 18 Train 22

Rogue K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Viktor 'v1c7oR' Dyankovv1c7oR 57 - 31 +26 99.0 1.60 Kamen 'bubble' Kostadinovbubble 49 - 36 +13 102.7 1.38 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN 43 - 34 +9 82.8 1.25 Jesper 'TENZKI' PlougmannTENZKI 46 - 36 +10 86.4 1.22 Nicolai 'glace' Jensenglace 35 - 29 +6 57.1 1.07 LDLC K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Alexandre 'xms' Fortéxms 36 - 45 -9 70.4 0.89 Kévin 'Ex6TenZ' DroolansEx6TenZ 33 - 41 -8 66.6 0.89 Antoine 'to1nou' Pirardto1nou 33 - 47 -14 66.2 0.84 Alex 'ALEX' McMeekinALEX 36 - 48 -12 68.1 0.84 Valentin 'mistou' Balbastromistou 28 - 49 -21 55.9 0.67

The final standings at the ESEA Season 23 Global Championship: