Challengers Elite Stage 4 Group Play kicked off Wednesday night with a stacked slate for the green and the dark horses, and the headliner was always going to be BUSH vs STUSH. Two affiliated rosters, one bracket, and a 9pm ET tip that nobody on either side wanted to lose. Both squads walked into the second match of the night 1-0, which meant somebody's perfect start was getting buried by midnight.
Wait, scratch that — here is the actual setup post.
The pre-series breakdown: both rosters 1-0, best-of-5, somebody's zero has to go.
NEXT UP: BUSH vs STUSH MATCH! Both teams 1-0 after their 1st match, someone's 0 has got to go! BUSH: @ProluteB @Capsidal_ @CammyMVP @traaixx STUSH: @5SkiL @SwootyWRLD @Manny7F @OkisFN BEST OF 5 SERIES WATCH PARTY: https://t.co/0NKqwsionP https://t.co/Y1o9ul9fIC @tBushGaming @StallionsCOD #Unshaven🌳
Map 1 on Hacienda HP turned into the Capsidal show. 37 kills, 27 deaths, and the kind of trigger discipline that makes you understand why people have been calling this his CAP OPS 7 mode all night. BUSH took the opener in a bangout, and suddenly the series tone was set — STUSH was going to have to claw back from behind for the rest of the night.
Capsidal's 37/27 stat line on Hacienda HP after the Map 1 closeout.
Map 2 was Raid SnD, the spot where STUSH absolutely had to find an answer, and instead BUSH kept the pressure on. A 6-4 round win flipped the series to a commanding 2-0, dragging the dark horses into elimination territory before the third map even loaded. Win one more and BUSH sweeps; lose one and STUSH has to win three straight against a team that just put up 37 from one slayer on Map 1.
The Map 2 Raid SnD result and the 2-0 series scoreline heading into Scar Overload.
Zoom out and the bigger story is that BUSH is still figuring out who they are post-AbeGotGame_, who left behind an Elite Stage 2 title, a Cup 11, and an ATL Major before walking out the door. The new core of Prolute, Capsidal, CammyMVP and traaixx had a 1-0 result over Torn already in the books before the STUSH series even started. Two matches in, BUSH is unbeaten on the day and Capsidal looks like the guy carrying the new era.