Wolves Esports Wolves Esports China Rank #21 glacier Liang Zhekai (梁哲恺) yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) Spring Liu Jiunting (刘俊霆) aluba Zhong Haojun (钟皓钧) has eliminated Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #9 RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish from Masters: Toronto with a 2-0 sweep. Their first international win, they remain in the Swiss stage, one match away from playoffs — or elimination.

Both teams came into this series off the back of 2-0 losses, Wolves dropping to Sentinels and Heretics losing to Paper Rex. This left everything on the line heading into the match, as only a victory would allow them an opportunity to qualify to playoffs.

Wolves had a strong start on their map pick, Pearl, where they took the opening pistol round and were able to gain an early 4-0 lead. Heretics was able to stabilize after identifying a weaker B defense, but Wolves avoided a tie thanks to their well-executed retakes and an unusual, but effective, tactical timeout.

Wolves dominated the pistol rounds in the series, winning three out of four overall.

An ace from Juicy gave Wolves the second pistol of the map, but Heretics took the eco to stop further damage. Now only needing four rounds, Juicy continued leading the way for the attack, cracking open sites with his Yoru play. Wo0t was a highlight on the opposing side, but his Operator was not enough to avoid a loss, as Wolves went for a high tempo play to close out the map 13-10.

Wolves remained dominant on their opponent's pick, Lotus. They took their third pistol round of the series, and anticipated Heretics' defensive plans to win six rounds in a row. It took a patient hold to break Wolves' streak, and Heretics was ultimately able to recover and end the half 7-5.

Spring was instrumental in pushing his team over the line, exploiting the opposition's time woes.

Now on attack, Heretics looked to shift the momentum after winning their first pistol round of the tournament and tying the scoreline 7-7. Wolves was not going to let that happen, as Spring 's stalwart defense and their well-coordinated retakes pushed the Chinese team into double digits. In the end, Yuicaw stepped up to close out the map. A Lockdown messed up Heretics' timing to give Wolves match point, and a full setup on C stopped the offense's final attempt in its tracks, setting his team up to win Lotus 13-9 and end the series with a 2-0 win.

Wolves remains in the event, awaiting their opponent for their next series. They will play one of the final 1-1 teams, with hopes of reaching playoffs in their first-ever Masters appearance.

“At least we got a win,” Juicy said after the series. “Heretics is a good team, but I think my team is better.”