Turkey5 relegated to ESEA MDL

Turkey5 have been relegated to ESEA MDL after losing to Windigo in the pre-relegation tournament.

The Turkish team, who took part in the tournament with the core of the ex-Space Soldiers squad that competed in Pro League Season 9 plus Beyazıt "⁠beyAz⁠" Körpe and Eneshan "⁠eneshan⁠" Tez, had been sent to the lower bracket after being soundly beaten by Ninjas in Pyjamas in a quick 2-0 series in which both maps ended with a 16-2 scoreline.

The match against Windigo was not nearly as straightforward as it went to all three maps, with the Bulgarians pulling through in the end with close victories on Mirage and Dust2, which came either side of a defeat on Nuke.

paz & co will play in ESEA MDL Season 32

The defeat brings to an end the squad's three-season stay in the ESL Pro League. The team had qualified for the prestigious league in Season 7 after coming through the relegation stage while playing under Space Soldiers, and impressed immediately, reaching the LAN finals after finishing in fifth place in the online portion of the competition.

The team could not repeat that success in Season 8 as they finished outside the LAN qualification places. After parting ways with Space Soldiers and witnessing the departures of star player Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş and in-game leader Engin "⁠MAJ3R⁠" Küpeli, the squad cut a frustrating figure in Season 9 as they lost all three group games and were sent to the pre-relegation tournament.

Windigo move on in the lower bracket to face Ninjas in Pyjamas, who were defeated by Heretics in a keenly-contested upper bracket series. The French team, formerly known as FrenchFrogs, require just one more victory to qualify for the next edition of the ESL Pro League. The second and third-placed sides from the pre-relegation tournament will move on to the relegation stage, in which they will be joined by Sprout and Spirit.

Below you can find the schedule for the final day of the pre-relegation tournament:

Friday, August 16:

12:00 Windigo vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
15:30 Heretics vs. Windigo / Ninjas in Pyjamas

Beyazıt 'beyAz' Körpe Age: 22 Team: Turkey5 Rating 1.0: 0.86 Maps played: 35 KPR: 0.59 DPR: 0.73 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş Age: 24 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.21 Maps played: 967 KPR: 0.86 DPR: 0.70 Ninjas in Pyjamas #11 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' SternerNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora Turkey5 #73 Ahmet 'paz' KarahocaEngin 'ngiN' KorÖmer 'imoRR' KarataşBeyazıt 'beyAz' KörpeEneshan 'eneshan' Tez Windigo #24 Kamen 'bubble' KostadinovViktor 'v1c7oR' DyankovYanko 'blocker' PanovGeorgi 'SHiPZ' GrigorovValentin 'poizon' Vasilev ex-Space Soldiers Sprout #32 Florian 'syrsoN' RischeTimo 'Spiidi' RichterSabit 'mirbit' CoktasarNils 'k1to' GruhneJosef 'faveN' Baumann Spirit #28 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovDmitry 'S0tF1k' ForostyankoPavel 'COLDYY1' VeklenkoViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevArtem 'iDISBALANCE' Egorov FrenchFrogs Heretics #52 David 'Davidp' PrinsLogan 'LOGAN' CortiBryan 'Maka' CandaGaëtan 'JiNKZ' JaminJérémy 'jeyN' Nguyen Engin 'MAJ3R' Küpeli Age: 28 Team: LDLC Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 708 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.67 Eneshan 'eneshan' Tez Age: 19 Team: Turkey5 Rating 1.0: 0.80 Maps played: 22 KPR: 0.56 DPR: 0.72 Space Soldiers