Rogue and Tainted Minds are the final two teams to reach the semi-finals at the ESEA Season 23 Global Premier Challenge after beating Bravado Gaming and Muffin Lightning, respectively.

Rogue breezed past Bravado Gaming (Photo courtesy of ESEA) 

With LDLC and Team Kinguin already through to the last-four stage, day two of the ESEA Global Premier Challenge with an all-American clash between Rush and Muffin Lightning, two teams who had been soundly beaten on day two.

Powered by a great display from Samuel "⁠SileNt⁠" Portillo, who boasted a Rating of 1.38, Muffin Lightning wrapped up the series by defeating Rush on two very close maps, the second of which going to overtime.

ESEA Season 23 MDL Global ChallengeBest of 3 RushMatchpage 0 2 7th January 2017 Muffin Lightning 14Dust2 16 15Overpass 19

Broken tag

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Moving over to Group A, Rogue took on Bravado Gaming in Group A's elimination match, and it ended up being a walk in the park for the Europeans, who dropped just 10 rounds over the entire series to secure the second spot (16-7 on Train and 16-3 on Mirage).

ESEA Season 23 MDL Global ChallengeBest of 3 BravadoMatchpage 0 2 7th January 2017 Rogue 7Train 16 3Mirage 16

Rogue	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jesper 'TENZKI' PlougmannTENZKI	46 - 16	+30	107.9	1.74
Viktor 'v1c7oR' Dyankovv1c7oR	42 - 25	+17	103.3	1.60
Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN	35 - 23	+12	87.6	1.42
Nicolai 'glace' Jensenglace	28 - 18	+10	69.6	1.28
Kamen 'bubble' Kostadinovbubble	31 - 26	+5	82.4	1.27

Bravado	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Roberto 'blackpoisoN' Dall'OccoblackpoisoN	27 - 36	-9	72.9	0.90
Ruan 'ELUSIVE' van WykELUSIVE	25 - 35	-10	63.9	0.72
Dimitri 'Detrony' HadjipaschaliDetrony	21 - 38	-17	66.5	0.66
Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekSonic	20 - 36	-16	60.0	0.61
Ashton 'Golz' MullerGolz	15 - 37	-22	41.8	0.45

The final match of the day pitted Tainted Minds against Muffin Lightning in an elimination match, with the Australians taking the lead in the series with a 16-12 win on Dust2 thanks to a stunning display from Jay "⁠Liazz⁠" Tregillgas, who got 36 kills to his name.

Muffin Lightning responded with a convincing 16-6 victory on Cache with a good all-round display, but Tainted Minds came back to haunt the Americans on the final map, Mirage, taking the win with a 16-13 scoreline with a great individual performance from Jesse "⁠InfrequeNt⁠" Barker.

ESEA Season 23 MDL Global ChallengeBest of 3 Tainted MindsMatchpage 2 1 7th January 2017 Muffin Lightning 16Dust2 12 6Cache 16 16Mirage 13

Tainted Minds	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jay 'Liazz' TregillgasLiazz	75 - 53	+22	91.8	1.32
Jesse 'InfrequeNt' BarkerInfrequeNt	60 - 46	+14	85.5	1.27
Travis 'wizard' Richardsonwizard	58 - 58	0	85.3	1.07
Connor 'chuch' Morganchuch	58 - 62	-4	79.3	1.02
Stuart 'sonic' Raynersonic	40 - 61	-21	63.7	0.74

Muffin Lightning	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Joshua 'sancz' Ballengersancz	71 - 54	+17	97.2	1.36
Samuel 'SileNt' PortilloSileNt	65 - 64	+1	82.0	1.16
Adam 'aKis' KisseberthaKis	49 - 59	-10	76.7	0.97
Diane 'di^' Trandi^	43 - 52	-9	69.8	0.95
Ryan 'ichibaNNN' ColucciichibaNNN	49 - 62	-13	64.7	0.89

This means that the semi-final match-ups for the tournament are the following:

LDLC	vs.	Tainted Minds
Kinguin	vs.	Rogue

Samuel 'SileNt' Portillo Age: 21 Team: Muffin Lightning Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 250 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.74 LDLC #29 Kévin 'Ex6TenZ' DroolansAntoine 'to1nou' PirardAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinValentin 'mistou' BalbastroAlexandre 'xms' Forté Kinguin #21 Grzegorz 'SZPERO' DziamałekKarol 'rallen' RodowiczMichał 'MICHU' MüllerMikołaj 'mouz' KarolewskiDamian 'Furlan' Kislowski Rogue #39 Nicolai 'glace' JensenKamen 'bubble' KostadinovJesper 'TENZKI' PlougmannViktor 'v1c7oR' DyankovCasper 'cadiaN' Møller Jesse 'InfrequeNt' Barker Age: 22 Team: Tainted Minds Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 128 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.64 Jay 'Liazz' Tregillgas Age: 19 Team: Tainted Minds Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 128 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.64 Tainted Minds Jay 'Liazz' TregillgasJesse 'InfrequeNt' BarkerTravis 'wizard' RichardsonConnor 'chuch' MorganStuart 'sonic' Rayner