Chinese organization Rare Atom secured a place in the Conference stage of ESL Pro League Season 17 by winning the grand finals of the ESL Challenger league in their region. To do this, she needed to beat one of the leading teams in the region – Mongolian IHC.
The ESL Challenger Asia-Pacific final is played in the best-of-5 format, but Rare Atom, led by Zhuo “advent” Liang came into the match with a one-map advantage, thanks to the fact that she had not suffered a single defeat in the playoffs. On the way to the final, the Chinese team beat Born in Mongolia, ARAVT and IHC. However, the latter still reached the grand final through the lower bracket of the tournament, as a result of which ICH and Rare Atom met for the second time, now on five maps.
The Mongolian team started this match very impressively, winning Ancient with a score of 16 – 0, but she failed to maintain her advantage. Mirage and Overpass remained with Rare Atom, and the winner was thus determined. Since the end of March, Rare Atom has won eleven matches out of twelve played at various tournaments.
Rare Atom qualified for the Conference stage for the second time in a row, but last season it had to give way to TYLOO due to visa problems. Now the team will have to demonstrate their level at ESL Challenger Valencia in early July.
