World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) held its CSGO Oceania LAN finals Jan. 31 in Sydney, Australia. Mountain Dew League team Ground Zero matched up against fellow MDL team Paradox. The squads battled it out in a BO5 with Ground Zero awarded a one map advantage from entering through the upper bracket. The match featured Dust II, Mirage, and Overpass. Ground Zero’s victory qualified them for WESG’s Global Finals in Chongqing, China.
Ground Zero failed to snag the first map against Paradox on Dust II (14-16). Mirage brought an impressive performance from Ground Zero. They ended the first half with a strong t-side (8-7). However, their ct-side demolished Paradox, allowing the terrorists to take only one round the second, half finishing the map 16-8. Overpass, again, was dominated by Ground Zero. Starting on the t-side, Paradox struggled to gain footing against their fellow Aussies. First half ended in GZ’s favor 11-4. After a reasonable effort in the second half, Paradox took three rounds off GZ. However, GZ pulled through and secured the win at 16-7.
WESG is set to kick off March 2020 and host 24 teams from around the world. GZ will compete against top organizations, including North America’s Chaos EC and European teams Heroic and North. The final 24 participating teams are currently TBD while qualifying tournaments are still underway. Reportedly, the prize pool for Global Finals is an astounding $1,000,000. The competition is organized by Alibaba Sports and sponsored by Alipay.
We’ve claimed the @WESGcom crown as we take down @ParadoxGamingAU on Overpass! GGWP!
[ #GZPZ || #WESTISBEST ] pic.twitter.com/Ns4WFaFS4e
— Ground Zero (@GroundZeroOCE) February 1, 2020
WESG standout players
Ground Zero’s stats tell a tale of their squad showing up ready to play. GZ’s Andy “Noobster” Zhang particularly had an impressive performance. He finished with the most kills in the series (68-47), most AWP kills (31), most first kills (17), and the best overall rating (1.38). Currently on trial with GZ is newcomer Joel “PEARSS” Kurta, who had a strong showing during WESG. PEARSS wasn’t far behind Noobster in kills finishing 61-49. Additionally, he had the second-highest overall ADR at an explosive 90.7 and second-highest overall rating at 1.32.
It’s expected that Luke “Llamas” Merchant and Noobster will retain permanent positions on the team. However, there hasn’t been an official announcement on behalf of the organization signing them as of yet.
Ground Zero is currently 4-0 (third place) in Australian MDL. Their current CSGO lineup additionally includes Callum “BURNRUOk” Henderson andCooper “void” Farrell.
Paradox is 1-4 in Australian MDL (twelfth place). Their CSGO roster includes Daniel “urbz” Urbani, Andrew “ino” Foster, Luke “ekul” Blakey, Luke “1ukey” McMillan, and Harry “bedonka” Hayes.
For more news in CSGO, check out updates to Mirage, Train and Dust2.
