Cowana has bounced back from a poor start in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league ESL Championship and is in the playoffs. Sprout took the win in the top group.
“We’re definitely making progress,” said Stefan “stfN” Seier from Cowana in an interview after the game. “It was a bit bumpy at the beginning, but I think we’re in a very strong position now and we’ll get to the finals.”
In the play-in phase of the league, Cowana fell short of expectations with a fifth place finish. The team therefore strengthened itself before the group phase with ex-Sprout player Timo “Spiidi” Richter, among others. In the lower group of the six weaker teams, the team then only gave up one card and secured one of the two remaining playoff tickets alongside Entropy Gaming.
The upper group, which was determined by playoff rankings, included defending champions Sprout and BIG Academy. With the first two places in the table, the two teams secured their entry into the upper bracket final, which is to take place offline at Dreamhack Hannover in December.