ECLOT remain in contention for a place at the Perfect World Shanghai Major, keeping their hopes alive with a decisive win over Sangal in the 1-2 elimination pool. This victory moves them to a 2-2 standing, leaving only one best-of-three and a possible tiebreaker away from a coveted Major spot.

The loss marks a dismal end to Linus “⁠LNZ⁠” Holtäng’s squad’s RMR journey. Once a team that swept through the RMR closed qualifiers with a 3-0 record and claimed three online championships during the summer, Sangal faltered under expectations. Their recent performances in Shanghai were far from competitive, securing six or fewer rounds in three of their last four maps.

The team started the event on a positive note with a win against Rebels but quickly unraveled when facing stronger opponents. They suffered a crushing 3-13 loss to MOUZ and an even more one-sided 2-13 defeat to Cloud9, setting the stage for their elimination at the hands of ECLOT.

On the other hand, ECLOT brought momentum into the event, having secured runner-up finishes at Winline Insight Season 6 and European Pro League Season 20 just a week before the RMR. Their success in translating online results to offline play starkly contrasted Sangal’s struggles.

ECLOT’s path in the RMR saw a mix of results, beginning with an overtime loss to Falcons. They rebounded with a remarkable comeback against GamerLegion, overturning a 4-11 deficit to secure victory. However, they fell short in a domestic clash against SINNERS before ultimately overpowering Sangal on Anubis (13-10) and Mirage (13-6) to keep their Major dreams alive.

Vít “⁠nbqq⁠” Pohlot led the charge for ECLOT, delivering an impressive performance that heavily contributed to the team’s success. Rasmus “⁠kreaz⁠” Johansson and Martin “⁠Dytor⁠” Handl also made critical plays, ensuring the series never slipped out of their grasp. On Anubis, the final scoreline belied ECLOT’s dominance, with Sangal’s ten rounds stemming from a last-minute push.

ECLOT set the tone early by targeting Yasin “⁠xfl0ud⁠” Koç at A and revisiting the site later for a 7-5 halftime advantage. They turned around consecutive disadvantages in the second half to reach double digits, ultimately bouncing back from a clutch 1v3 play by Samet “⁠jottAAA⁠” Köklü to clinch the map.

Both jottAAA and xfl0ud struggled to make an impact, ending Anubis with opening duel scores of 1:6 and 1:7, respectively. Mirage fared no better for xfl0ud, who went 0-9 before finally securing a kill just before halftime.

Despite efforts from Simon “⁠yxngstxr⁠” Boije and jottAAA, Sangal couldn’t recover from their deficits. ECLOT wrapped up Mirage with an 8-4 halftime lead and dominated the second half, buoyed by nbqq’s standout 22-11 K-D and a stellar 1.76 rating. Their clinical performance in all three clutch situations sealed Sangal’s fate and solidified ECLOT’s position in the RMR.

With this victory, ECLOT are just one step away from a spot at the Shanghai Major, while Sangal’s disappointing run ends their campaign on a sour note.