NEXGA and MOLEGAN ends ESL Challenger League S44 week 1 with a win
Organised by ESEA, ESL Challenger League Season 44 Asia-Pacific commenced on 17th January. It is an online tournament featuring a total of 16 teams with a prize pool of $20,000. It is a part of the Challenger League and the tournament will run till 26th March. The league is divided across a total of 8 weeks for the regular season, all sixteen teams are split into two groups of 8 each. Yesterday, 18th January, week 1 concluded and it featured a total of 2 matches from group A. NEXGA and MOLEGAN won their respective fixtures. The top eight teams will head for the S45 Challenger League while the remaining teams will be relegated.
Week 1 recap and overview
Week 1 of ESL Challenger League Season 44 featured a total of 4 matches which were divided into two matchdays.
Week 1 matchday 1 had two matches, on 17th January Lynn Vision Gaming played against Flaggers and won the best of 3 games with a score of 2-0. Eruption played the second game against Clutch Gaming and secured a 2-0 win in the best-of-3 series. Visit Liquipedia for the complete match schedule for weeks 1-4.
Matchday 2 was played yesterday and it had two matches. Flaggers took on NEXGA in the first game of the day while MOLEGAN faced Kintsugi in the second game.
Flaggers vs NEXGA
Maps – Mirage, Inferno and Ancient
- Mirage Map – The first-half score remained 6-9 with NEXGA taking a lead. Later the second-half score remained 6-7 and NEXGA won the game with a score of 12-16.
- Inferno Map – Flaggers made it 8-7 in the first half as they got one round lead. But the scenario changed in the second half when NEXGA got their momentum. NEXGA made it 3-9 in the second half and won the game with a final score of 11-16.
MOLEGAN vs Kintsugi
Maps – Inferno, Vertigo and Nuke
- Inferno Map – Both teams headed for the map, the first-half score was 10-5 with MOLEGAN taking the lead. Later with a 6-5 finish in the second half, MOLEGAN won the game by 16-10.
- Vertigo Map – Kintsugi were seen dominating the game as they made it 2-13 in the first half. MOLEGAN tried to make a comeback but failed to do so as the second-half score remained 10-3. Kintsugi won the game by 12-16.
- Nuke Map – First half score of the game remained 9-6 as MOLEGAN had a three-round lead. Later with a 7-2 second-half score, MOLEGAN won the game by 16-8.
ESL Challenger League Season 44 week 1 was played out yesterday with these fixtures. NEXGA beat Flaggers with total domination by 2-0 in the best of 3 matches while MOLEGAN with a 2-1 finish won the game against Kintsugi.