eSports
Charlie Fripp, Kwese ESPN 7y

ESL African Championship: VexxedPhoenix goes into double overtime

esports

Breaking into the local esports scene and making a name for yourself in never easy on any level, but VexxedPhoenix is taking things to a whole new level.

Competing against well-established sides like Damage Control and Bravado Gaming in the ESL African Championship, some teams are more on the back foot than others.

In the tournament - which will be approaching the halfway mark next week - VexxedPhoenix is yet to achieve any kind of success.

Out of the three matches that they have played in so far, they have come up short in all - leaving them with zero points on the leader board.

But that hasn't taken the wind out of their sails. In every single match that VexxedPhoenix has played in, it has gone into overtime.

As a testament to their increased tenacity as the tournament continues, the team managed to force xTc Gaming into two overtimes for last night's matchup.

The first map (Cobblestone) ended with a score of 8:16, but find their steam for the second map (Cache), the dust eventually settled 20:22 in favour of xTc.

Even if the team doesn't win any games from here on out, they sure have proven that they won't go down without a fight. That in itself makes them a formidable (and dangerous) opponent.

But the writing is also not completely on the wall for them. If by some extraordinary circumstances VexxedPhoenix manages to win at least three game in the remaining tournament, they should have nine points to show for it.

That should be enough for them to remain in the top four at the tournament's end - and to progress to the finals at rAge in October.

Those finals will see the top four teams from this group stage play against the top four teams from the North African group stage.

Vexxed is not the only team that still has a lot of work ahead of them, but they have proven to definitely be one of the most tenacious underdogs.

On the other side of the tournament log, Energy eSports made short work of their opponents in last night's ESL African Championship match.

Taking on Exdee Gaming, Energy comfortably won the first map with a score of 16:4, and found a bit more resistance from Exdee on the second map, Cobblestone - ultimately succumbing to Energy for a final score of 16:8.

The current standings for the tournament can be found here, while the fixtures and the previous results can be found here.

All the group stages will be live streamed and can be viewed on the ESL Africa Facebook page and on the official ESL CS:GO Twitch website. If you want to rewatch (or watch the matches for the first time), you can check it out here.

We have also created an ESL African Championship hub, where you can view the current standings, all the fixtures and the latest articles for both the CS:GO tournament as well as the Hearthstone tournament.

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