Grayhound and Vertex await the two teams who will advance out of Stage 2 into the playoffs where a slot to Pro League Season 18 is up for grabs. DXA and Stirlz’s Angels are already out of the running, but six more teams can still pull it off.
- Rooster and Sunday School in Stage 2 are yet to lose a map
- DXA and Stirlz’s Angels are out of ANZ Champs
- The final two playoff spots are up for grabs in Stage 2
Stage 2 of ANZ Champs Season 16 is well and truly underway with Rooster and Sunday School out to an early lead. On the other side of the coin, DXA and Stirlz’s Angels have found themselves eliminated from this season in equal last.
The coming week will not only see which teams make their way out of Stage 2 but we will have our winner of ANZ Champs S16 crowned as the playoffs kick-off immediately following Stage 2.
The winner of Rooster v Sunday School will find themselves a spot in the playoffs, while it’s currently do-or-die in the lower bracket with e-LEMON-ators, Antic, The Big Dogs and Mindfreak all fighting for tournament life.
With Encore being replaced due to not being able to field a team by a third team from the closed qualifier, Antic and Mindfreak will potentially be able to fight their way into the playoffs over one of the squads that has tried and already failed once in Stage 1 of ANZ Champs.
Whoever is able to make it through will have to face either Vertex or Grayhound who were the two squads who did manage to qualify in the previous stage.
Grayhound have been a lot of international play at the BLAST Paris Major as well as events such as IEM Dallas and Dreamhack Melbourne. Although the hounds saw a mixed bag of results, will they still be able to outclass the domestic scene or will the exhaustion of travel and a busy schedule catch up to them?
While all the Stage 2 action has been unfolding and Grayhound have been overseas, we haven’t seen much of Vertex who may look to use the element of surprise heading into the playoffs.
We’re covering everything ESL ANZ Champs S16: streams, results and more.
ESL ANZ Champs Season 16 Streams
Be sure not to miss any ANZ Champs action and watch live on Twitch. You can see all the action, or catch up on any matches you miss via the ESL Australia Twitch channel.
ESL ANZ Champs Season 16 Schedule & Results
ESL ANZ Champs Season 16 features two stages and both are double-elimination brackets, with all matches being Bo3. In Stage 1, the top two squads advance directly to playoffs and the next six teams will proceed to Stage 2.
Stage 2 will introduce two more teams following a last chance qualifier and once again, only the top two teams will advance from this stage and round out the playoff bracket.
ESL ANZ Champs Season 16 — Stage 2 Schedule & Results
| Match | Teams | Time (AEST) |
| Opening Round | ||
| Monday, May 22 | Sunday School 2-0 DXA | 6pm |
| Mindfreak 0-2 e-LEMON-ators | 9:10pm | |
| Tuesday, May 23 | Rooster 2-0 Stirlz’s Angels | 6pm |
| The Big Dogs 2-0 Antic | 8:10pm | |
| Upper Bracket Semifinals | ||
| Wednesday, May 24 | Sunday School 2-0 e-LEMON-ators | 6pm |
| The Big Dogs 0-2 Rooster | 9pm | |
| Lower Bracket Round 1 | ||
| Thursday, May 25 | DXA 0-2 Mindfreak | 6pm |
| Antic 2-1 Stirlz Angels | 8:45pm | |
| Lower Bracket Quarterfinal | ||
| Wednesday, June 7 | e-LEMON-ators v Antic | 6pm |
| The Big Dogs v Mindfreak | 8:30pm | |
| Upper Bracket Final | ||
| Thursday, June 8 | Rooster v Sunday School | 6pm |
ESL ANZ Champs Season 16 — Stage 1 Schedule & Results
| Match | Teams | Time (AEST) |
| Opening Round | ||
| Monday, Mar 27 | Vertex 2-1 Sunday School | 5pm |
| Grayhound 2-0 Stirlz’s Angels | 9pm | |
| Tuesday, Mar 28 | e-LEMON-ators 2-1 Rooster | 5pm |
| The Big Dogs 2-0 Encore | 8:40pm | |
| Upper Bracket Semifinals | ||
| Wednesday, Mar 29 | Vertex 2-0 e-LEMON-ators | 5pm |
| Grayhound 2-0 The Big Dogs | ||
| Lower Bracket Round 1 | ||
| Tuesday, Apr 11 | Sunday School 2-0 Rooster | 6pm |
| Stirlz’s Angels 0-2 Encore | 9:15pm | |
| Lower Bracket Quarterfinal | ||
| Wednesday, Apr 12 | Encore 2-0 e-LEMON-ators | 6pm |
| The Big Dogs 2-0 Sunday School | 8:30pm | |
| Upper Bracket Final | ||
| Thursday, Apr 13 | Vertex 0-2 Grayhound | 6pm |
| Lower Bracket Semifinal | ||
| Encore 2-0 The Big Dogs | 8:30pm | |
| Lower Bracket Final | ||
| Friday, Apr 14 | Encore 0-2 Vertex | 6pm |
| Grand Final | ||
| Grayhound 2-1Vertex | 8:50pm |
ESL ANZ Champs Season 16 Rosters
Moving into Stage 2, three new squads entered the tournament via the Last Chance Qualifier.
DXA, Mindfreak and Antic were the three teams added to ANZ Champs for Stage 2, filling the two additional slots and one replacing the slot left by Encore’s departure from the event.
In terms of rosters that have seen some changes and players who have have shuffled around, Rooster certainly look poised to do damage with ADK and TjP coming into the squad for Rackem and dangeR.
Some other notable moves include, SaVage and damyo to e-LEMON-ators to replace yourwombat and nauh. To fill damyo’s spot, The Big Dogs have brought in Omichella while also adding nauh to replace Jry.
Vertex and Grayhound remain unchanged and have the luxury of skipping Stage 2 by already qualifying for playoffs.
| Team | Squad | ||||
| Grayhound Gaming | Sico | Liazz | aliStair | Vexite | INS |
| Vertex Esports Club | BRACE | ADDICT | pz | HaZR | malta |
| The Big Dogs | SkulL | Omichella | N1ghtraid | forevint | nauh |
| Mindfreak | isa1ah | Word | chief | tucks | Forleks |
| e-LEMON-ators | apocdud | SaVage | viridian | foggers | damyo |
| Sunday School | rekonz | supar | versa | guag | nexar |
| Rooster | chelleos | ADK | nettik | asap | TjP |
| Stirlz’s Angels | ObZen | Drox | ToM | callum_murray | gump |
| DXA Esports | Kiyo | NeoAgricola | bebest | lucas | Roflko |
| Antic Esports | Noisia | James | jokes | RaZ | kyson |
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- Source: https://snowballesports.com/2023/06/04/esl-anz-champs-season-16-grayhound-vertex-claim-victories-early-in-stage-1/
