Xi Lai eliminates Dragon Ranger Gaming in All-China brawl

jenopelle

Masters London has lost its first participant, with the third of four regional Swiss Stage matchups resulting in Xi Lai Gaming sacrificing Dragon Ranger Gaming in an all-China brawl to stay alive in Great Britain. In a 2-1 win, the series was played out on DRG's pick of Haven, XLG's pick of Fracture, and the decider map of Split. DRG dominated Haven 13-4, followed by XLG winning Fracture 13-9 and then XLG closing out Split 13-11.

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While both teams opted for a double-Duelist comp with Omen and Cypher on Haven, they each took very different approaches. While XLG went for what might be considered the more new-meta comp with Jett and Phoenix accompanied by a Sova, DRG went with Neon and Waylay with Skye. XLG had a strong retort to DRG's pistol win, buying up five Stingers to seize some early momentum. Despite that, DRG bounced back as soon as its economy reset, going on a run on defense and winning eight of the next nine rounds to enter the half up 9-3. Effective, well-coordinated retakes on defense became layered, well-organized attacks, which ended up with DRG closing out the map 13-4.

A crafty, shifty round from DRG to reach map point.

While DRG carried a good bit of momentum from Haven onto Fracture to start, that momentum could not be sustained. Its double-Duelist comp only managed five rounds on attack, and a front-footed, aggressive approach on defense was shut down by a more patient XLG. vo0kashu dropped 24 kills in the map, but his efforts weren't enough against Rarga and Lysoar's 22 and 20 as XLG won 13-9.

NoMan gets loud after getting one more than his usual 3K.

On Split, two different approaches to the map showed off a clash of comps and styles. Both teams took on a double-Duelist approach, but again had their own spin, with XLG picking Raze-Waylay to DRG's Jett-Phoenix. While XLG went with an Omen-Viper Controller pairing that was well-suited for its more methodical approach, DRG had vo0kashu on Vyse.

From the beginning, Split was happywei's map. Despite moments of heroics from the likes of SpiritZ1, the man to beat in the server was always happywei. He helped orchestrate a 6-1 lead to begin, and while DRG clawed back a few rounds on defense, his 19/5 halftime scoreline had XLG up 8-4 at half.

XLG started its defense half by dropping its fifth pistol round of the series, and soon after seized match point up 12-7. With happywei shooting, it seemed like a quick closeout was on the horizon, but DRG found a second wind. A run of four straight rounds saw DRG threaten to force overtime, but XLG closed things out with their backs to the wall, in no small part thanks to a 3K from happywei, who finished with a monstrous 35 kills.

happywei started and ended Split hot, with three of his final 35 kills ending the map.

happywei ended the series on top of the leaderboard with a 1.55 rating and 64 kills, both game-high marks, while vo0kashu's own 1.39 and 60 came up just short of extending DRG's stay in London.

While DRG heads back home, XLG will fight on another day, competing in the final day of the Swiss Stage for a shot at playoffs.