14.06.20244 min read

Around the MESA Nomadic Masters Tournament

Last month, MESA announced the Nomadic Masters 2024 Spring tournament with a prize pool of $100,000. A total of 8 teams will compete in this tournament — 4 from Europe and 4 from Asia. The teams arrived last week, and the initial matches of the tournament have already taken place.

The first three days of matches were held at the MESA LAN studio without an audience. There were 2 matches on the first day and 3 matches each on the following two days, making a total of 8 matches played so far. Let’s dive into the details of these games.

The first match featured Lynn Vision vs. Aurora. For Lynn Vision, this was their first LAN match since Jee was replaced by flying, and the team hadn’t fully adjusted their playstyle, resulting in a rather weak performance. Aurora, on the other hand, was already considered a tournament favorite and easily defeated Lynn Vision with a 2-0 score.

The next match was between The MongolZ and Gaimin Gladiators, and the roster of Gaimin Gladiators had previously defeated The MongolZ under the former name ECSTATIC at the PGL Copenhagen Major 2024. However, this time The MongolZ took their revenge and swept them.

With the first day’s two matches concluded, the second day of the tournament kicked off with a match between BLEED Esports and Chinggis Warriors. Chinggis Warriors struggled to find their footing on the first map, Anubis, and lost with a score of 13-5. However, they put up a strong fight on the next map, Mirage, taking the game to two overtimes, but ultimately lost 19-16 and dropped to the lower bracket.

In the final match of the upper bracket’s first round, OG faced off against ATOX Esports. ATOX Esports lost the first map, Anubis, to the opponent, but came back strong and won the next two maps, Inferno and Ancient, securing a spot in the second round of the upper bracket.

In the final match of the second day, The MongolZ faced Aurora. The MongolZ once again proved they are a Tier 1 level team by dominating on the Inferno and Nuke maps, winning 2-0 with ease. With this victory, they secured a spot in the upper bracket final, which will be played at Steppe Arena in front of a live audience.

The third day of matches at the MESA LAN studio began with the second upper bracket round match between ATOX Esports and BLEED Esports. Although ATOX Esports won the first map, they lost the following two maps, Anubis and Ancient, and were thus dropped to the lower bracket.

After that, the elimination matches in the lower bracket took place, starting with Lynn Vision vs. Gaimin Gladiators. Gaimin Gladiators took the first map, Nuke, but Lynn Vision didn’t give up and fought back, winning on Inferno and Dust 2 to stay in the tournament. Gaimin Gladiators, who were expected by many to make the top 4, exited the tournament with two straight losses and no wins.

In the final match, Chinggis Warriors went up against OG Esports. Many speculated whether CW, considered the weakest team in the tournament, could at least take one map. The first map, Dust 2, was OG’s pick, and due to CW’s lack of preparation, they lost 13-5.

However, on the next map, Ancient, CW proved they weren’t as weak as people thought, winning 13-5 and tying the series 1-1. When the third map, Anubis, started, CW took the pistol round and didn’t drop a single round afterward in the first half. One of the team’s players, Zilkenberg, even survived all 12 rounds without dying. Although they switched sides and lost the pistol round, giving up 4 rounds in total to OG, CW managed to close out the game with a 13-4 victory, staying alive in the tournament.

Thus, the first two teams eliminated from the tournament were the European teams OG Esports and Gaimin Gladiators. The remaining 6 teams will play in front of a live audience at Steppe Arena on June 1 and 2.

AuthorTemujin Batbayar

Analyst from Ulaanbaatar specializing in CS2. Has competed in MESA tournaments, worked with Esports TV during the ESL Pro League, and reviewed both the PGL Major Antwerp 2022 and IEM Katowice 2024. Author of his own player evaluation metrics and known for accurate predictions. Has interviewed s1mple and ZywOo. In esports since the days of CS 1.3.