Alter Iron secured the final ESL Challenger League (ECL) Season 49 spot last night by finishing second in ESL Challenger League Season 48. They triumphed over Take Flyte to join Undone in claiming spots alongside North America’s top teams. Alter Iron’s journey began on December 13th in Stage Two of Relegation.
They lost their opening series against Undone in a close 2-1 match. This loss sent Alter Iron to the lower bracket, where they faced LAG for survival. Alter Iron started strong with a 13-6 win on Anubis, led by Misha “Misha” Ivanov’s stellar performance.
LAG dominated the start of Ancient, taking an 8-4 lead on their T-side and extending it to 12-7 on CT-side. However, they couldn’t convert five match points, allowing Alter Iron to force overtime and win 16-14, taking the series 2-0. In the qualification series, Alter Iron faced Take Flyte.
The series was one-sided, with Alter Iron winning Inferno 13-5 and Dust2 13-5. By defeating Take Flyte, Alter Iron locked in the last spot in the sixteen-team ESL Challenger League Season 49, set to begin in early 2025. In a rare occurrence, both Take Flyte and LAG have been relegated to ESEA Advanced Season 52.
The previous night saw Josh “steel” Nissan’s Undone lineup also secure a spot in ESL Challenger League Season 49. Steel and Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham joined Undone in early November alongside Ian “motm” Hardy, Connor “chop” Sullivan, and Danny “cxzi” Strzelczyk.
alter Iron clinches last ecl spot
Undone’s path to ECL started on December 10th with a 2-0 win over InControl. They then beat Take Flyte 2-0 to top Stage One of Relegation. In Stage Two, Undone faced Alter Iron, who had eliminated them from ESEA Advanced Season 51 playoffs.
This time, Undone won the series 2-1. Undone’s qualification match was a rematch against Take Flyte. Undone narrowly won Dust2 16-14 in overtime.
Take Flyte stayed alive with a 13-11 win on Nuke, but Undone took Inferno 13-6 thanks to cxzi’s strong showing. The ESL Challenger League Season 48 Relegation, featuring six teams battling for two ECL Season 49 spots, began on December 10th. LAG and Take Flyte from ECL S48 faced off against four squads from ESEA Advanced Seasons 50 and 51.
LAG posted a 6-22 record in the ECL regular season, while Take Flyte finished 5-23. LAG entered with a “dead” roster including former players Nick “nicx” Lee, Raymon “rayxts” Mando, and Deniz “Experative” Mutlum, who is also reportedly out. From ESEA Advanced, Alter Ego was the top seed after placing second in Season 51.
However, the spotlight was on steel’s Undone roster, heavy favorites to qualify for ECL despite setbacks in the Advanced playoffs. The full team list for ESL Challenger League Season 48 Relegation included:
Advanced Teams: Alter Ego, Undone, InControl, Wanted Goons
ECL Teams: LAG, Take Flyte
Stage 1 kicked off with Take Flyte vs Wanted Goons and InControl vs Undone.
April Isaacs is a news contributor for DevX.com She is long-term, self-proclaimed nerd. She loves all things tech and computers and still has her first Dreamcast system. It is lovingly named Joni, after Joni Mitchell.
