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BLUEJAYS to compete in the A1 Adria League Season 9!

One of the best CS:GO teams in the Adriatic region has accepted an invite for the ninth season of the A1 Adria League. Last season BLUEJAYS weren’t able to participate in the finals. They were busy winning the IESF World Championship in Eilat. Now, they will have a new chance to become the champions.

BLUEJAYS dominating the regional scene

North Macedonian lineup playing under the BLUEJAYS banner is currently ranked 37th best team in the world. The success didn’t come overnight. Aleksandar “CacaNito” Kjulukoski and the squad had some great results in the past months. Besides winning the IESF World Championship they secured 2nd place in the CCC Champions 2021 and Funspark ULTI 2021: European Playoffs #2. In the Pinnacle Winter Series #2 they finished 3rd/4th after losing to the Finnish powerhouse ENCE.

By beating 4glory Esports in the finals of RES Season 2 they managed to secure their spot in the TWR EEM Spring 2022, the qualifying tournament for the BLAST Spring EU Showdown. One look at their results is enough to realize why are BLUEJAYS one of the two invited teams for Season 9.

Here is the current BLUEJAYS lineup:

bluejays-csgo-lineup

CS:GO in the A1 Adria League Season 9

The CS:GO part of the A1 Adria League Season 9 will be played in three phases. The first one is the three open qualifiers played in the single-elimination Bo1 format and the decider matches are the Bo3 series. Top two teams from each qualifier advance to the group stage. Similar to the last season in the group stage teams will be competing in the SWISS format. Again, all the matches will be Bo1, except the deciding ones. In the playoffs, we will see four of the best teams in the Adriatic region battling it out in the single-elimination Bo3 format. There is still time to sing up for the CS:GO qualifiers. Prove that you have what it takes to fight against the best CS:GO teams!

  • STAGE
  • A1 Adria League Season 9 – CSGO – Qualifier 1
  • A1 Adria League Season 9 – CSGO – Qualifier 2
  • A1 Adria League Season 9 – CSGO – Qualifier 3

After two intense maps, PORTUGAL claim the A1 Adria League title!

PORTUGAL outplayed iNation in the grand final of this season of our CS:GO league and won the main prize of 2000€.

Our CS:GO final stage once again featured a single-elimination bracket with four teams in contention for the main prize. iNation, PORTUGAL, 4glory, and the recently announced Marten Gaming faced each other to decide the best Adriatic team of this season. Firstly, PORTUGAL played against 4glory. In their second duel for this season, the Macedonian-majority team once again prevailed and defeated Miloš “dEE” Marčeta’s squad with a 2-1 result.

Next up, iNation were paired up against Marten Gaming. The former recently traveled back from Isreal, where they played in the 13. IESF World Championship, and now they came back to play the A1 Adria League. Marten was a good match for the team, but iNation managed to squeeze past them on both maps (Inferno – 16:14; Dust2 – 16:13). In the third-place decider, Marten Gaming once again lost. This time, they couldn’t overcome the second Serbian team, 4glory Esports.

PORTUGAL started off strong on their map pick – Mirage. 10 rounds on the CT side gave them a good lead heading into the second half. There, they let iNation win five rounds but managed to close out the map without many problems. Inferno was the map pick of iNation and they looked much better on this map. However, PORTUGAL bounced back and brought the game to overtime. After a quadruple overtime match, Blaže “HEv1X” Hristov carried his team to victory and secured the first place for PORTUGAL.

CSGO Playoffs

The final CS:GO standings:

1. PORTUGAL – 2000€
2. rs iNation – 1500€
3. rs 4glory Esports – 1000€
4. Marten Gaming – 500€

 

Marten to replace BLUEJAYS in the CS:GO playoffs!

Instead of BLUEJAYS, it will be Marten Gaming who will try to claim the throne in the final playday of this CS:GO season.

Yesterday, one of the A1 Adria League participants managed to accomplish a great feat on the international CS:GO scene. Namely, BLUEJAYS, a team consisting of players that have been a part of the A1 Adria League for years won the 13. IESF World Championship. The tournament is one of the rare ones nowadays that incorporate a country-based system in the format. National squads from all over the world traveled to Eliat, Israel to try to claim the World Champions’ title on LAN. Team Serbia, Kosovo, and Macedonia represented the region in Israel, and Macedonia managed to claim the title after a dominant win against Romania in the grand finals.

Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts between the two tournaments will make it impossible for BLUEJAYS to attend the CS:GO playoffs. Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski and his team qualified for the playoffs in Round 4 and unlike iNation, their traveling schedule won’t let them arrive in time for the final stage. Instead of BLUEJAYS, a chance to win the main A1 Adria League S8 prize will be given to Marten Gaming. The Bosnian-majority roster has been a force not to be reckoned with in recent times, so it will be a joy to watch them play the playoffs bracket.

The CS:GO playoffs will be played on Sunday, as a part of the last Reboot Online Games Week day. Four teams – Marten, 4glory, iNation and PORTUGAL will fight for a prize pool of €5.000 and the title of the best team in the Adriatic region. What do you think, who will become the new CS:GO champion?

4glory to play in the playoffs after defeating Marten!

With a 2-0 win against Marten Gaming, 4glory have clinched the last CS:GO playoffs spot for the season.

Finally, after Brawl Stars and FIFA, it was CS:GO’s time to complete the playoffs’ participants list. In the final duel of this regular season, 4glory met Marten Esports. After they missed their chance to qualify in Round 4, the Serbian powerhouse had another go today. They showed that they learned from their mistakes and were much better in Round 5. Nemanja “sarenii” Šarenac’s team crushed Marten on Marten’s map pick, Dust2 (16:7). Inferno was even worse for the Bosnian squad as they managed to score only six rounds before falling short to the in-form 4glory quintet (4glory 16:6 Marten).

With this game coming to an end, we know the four playoffs teams: iNation, BLUEJAYS, PORTUGAL, and 4glory. Three of these four teams also competed in the previous season’s playoffs, which only proves that the region has a number of constant teams that keep together for a longer time. The only new team to join the playoffs’ list this season is iNation.

 These are the final standings of this CS:GO season:

CS:GO SWISS

BLUEJAYS outplay 4glory off-stream; JESTE are eliminated!

In the final matches of Round 4, Marten defeated JESTE, while 4glory fell short to a great BLUEJAYS roster.

This was the second time BLUEJAYS and 4glory played each other in two days. Yesterday, it was a part of the CEE Champions 2021 single-elimination bracket. CEE Champions is also the reason their A1 Adria League match today was played off-stream as the Serbian team had a third-place decider to play at 17:00. And just like yesterday, BLUEJAYS once again triumphed at the expense of 4glory. This time, they did it in two maps. Mirage ended with a final scoreline of 16:10, while on Nuke, 4glory managed to win one more round (16:11). BLUEJAYS are now a part of the playoffs, while 4glory will participate in the fifth SWISS round as well.

The second match, however, was streamed on our official channels and it saw JESTE challenge Marten Gaming. Because both teams were in the 1-2 pool, this was an elimination match. Marten had an easy time against their opponents and they closed of the BO3 in two maps. Mirage ended with a 16-12 scoreline, while Ancient was even more one-sided. This time, Marten closed out the day by winning 16-6 and thus eliminating JESTE from further competition.

These are the current SWISS standings:

CS:GO SWISS

choiv7, iNation: “I think 4glory, Marten and BLUEJAYS will make it to playoffs”

Last week it was League of Legends, and now we are back to CS:GO. Ivan “choiv7” Živković, iNation’s In-Game Leader, talked to us about his team’s first A1 Adria League season, their perfect SWISS stage as well as other things related to iNation’s development and recent results. You can read everything choiv7 had to say below:

Before focusing on A1 Adria League, let’s talk about your recent results. You qualified for the IESF World Championship LAN in Israel. How did that whole tournament go? Seeing the rest of the qualified teams, what do you think your chances are of placing high or even winning the whole thing?

Our group was a decent one I would say, we had to beat either [EC] Kyiv or Czech Republic to get out of the groups, so we beat the Czechs and unfortunately lost to Kyiv 2-1. We had one day to prepare for every match which was enough I would say and we were really hyped for every match we played. there are good teams that qualified for the main event, we will see how it goes, but i believe that we can get to the end of the tournament, atleast finish in the top 4.

Back to the A1 Adria League. It seems like you have an easier time against BLUEJAYS than their rivals, PORTUGAL. You beat them in the League, and you were better than them in Kuvo’s OneTap tournament. What is the main difference between these two squads? Why does playing BLUEJAYS seem easier? Is their playstyle not suited to yours or is it something else?

BLUEJAYS are really good opponents and also a good team. Against teams that play structured CS like them it is much easier to have a plan and prepare before the game so we were really prepared for them. The main difference between PORTUGAL and BLUEJAYS is that the former is a mix and the other team is a regular team. If mix team stars pressuring you from the start and you can’t addapt, it is really hard to come back and stop their momentum.

After losing to them on two occasions, you finally outplayed PORTUGAL. What makes PORTUGAL such a hard team to beat? What did you do differently in this match that helped you win?

For us main problem against mix teams is adaptation, we rarely play against mix teams and we need to learn to adapt faster when that happens. We make a lot of mistakes and they punish us for that. This last match, we were down 1-0 on their map pick and before the 2nd map we just told each other to adapt faster and talk more in TeamSpeak about what they are doing so we can all be focused, which happend, and we didn’t lose any force/eco rounds like on Map 1.

Which team surprised you the most this season and why?

In my opinion, there are no surprises in this season. There are 5-6 teams that are equal, and I’m happy that we are the first team that qualified because it’s hard to say which teams will qualify for top4.

 Besides you, which three teams do you think will make it through to the playoffs?

I think 4glory, Marten and BLUEJAYS will make it to playoffs because they are all well prepared. I can’t wait to see the remaining matches!

We completely agree with you choiv, we can’t wait to watch the remaining matches as well. Don’t forget to tune in this Sunday, and every next Sunday until the playoffs, to watch the best Adriatic CS:GO teams fight for the 5.000€ prize pool.

This week in A1AL: Two spots remain in the LoL league!

Ahead of us is the week that will decide the final two League of Legends teams. In the meantime, CS:GO, FIFA and Brawl Stars continue with the SWISS stage.

Brawl Stars

The first Brawl Stars round was indeed a quick one. Every single one of the four played matches ended with a clean sweep for the favorite team. With no upsets in Round 1, the leaderboard is currently split in half with the dominant teams claiming the 1-0 spots. This week, four new matches will decide which teams will go a step closer to elimination or the playoffs, respectively. Salada de Frutas versus Lightning Strike and Omert4 vs Winx Club – which two teams will advance to the 2-0 pool? What about the matches in the 0-1 SWISS pool? Here are the four matches in this second round:

QuickMind vs. Mayoi
Omert4 vs. Winx Club
BalkanTalents vs. Dominjo Carry
Salada de Frutas vs. Lightning Strike

FIFA

Similar to Brawl Stars, there weren’t major upsets in the first FIFA22 SWISS round either. However, the matches were definitely much closer than in Supercell’s arena brawler and we are eagerly expecting Friday, when the second round will take place. Once again, Tarik “amke2001” Novo and Miloš “brstimir” Majdevac will be paired against each other. Petar “DrPecho” Šušnjar will try to defeat Đorđe “JasikFifa” Cumbo, while Harun “Hara” Parla’s opponent this playday will be Esad “esad1memic” Memić. And in the very end, Haris “edenn95” Lukomirak will try to get his first win for this season versus Emir “Sulja13” Suljović.

CS:GO

We are halfway done with the third CS:GO round and we already know the first playoffs team. That team is none other than iNation, the A1 Adria League first-timers who beat PORTUGAL in the deciding BO3 duel. The second Serbian team that competed in that playday, 4glory, also took a W last Sunday, and their victims were SKUAK Gaming. This week, one of our matches will be between 1-1 teams – Marten Gaming and BLUEJAYS. While it is an important match, everything isn’t on the line yet for these teams. The same can’t be said about JESTE and Young Glorians (who recently became a part of Zero Tenacity).

 Marten Gaming vs.  BLUEJAYS
rs JESTE vs.  Young Glorians

League of Legends

One qualifier separates us from the regional League of Legends playoffs. That means that the Adriatic teams have only one more chance to make it through to the League. Last time, Fantastic Esports and Mafija Lebrinyja triumphed over every other team in the qualifiers and secured the fifth and sixth League spots. Do you have what it takes to become a part of the A1 Adria League story? SIGN UP for the last League of Legneds qualifier and prove it!

SKUAK and iNation have a great day in the CS:GO league!

With a great CS:GO playday behind us, we can conclude the second SWISS round of the season. This time around, iNation and SKUAK were the triumphant teams.

The first match of the day really couldn’t be any closer. We got to watch three long maps with one of them even going to overtime. iNation and BLUEJAYS started this epic duel on Mirage. During the entire BO3, iNation often found themselves on the losing side, and they couldn’t turn it around on Mirage. BLUEJAYS won the very last round of regulation and closed off the map in their favor. Dust2 somehow managed to be even closer than Mirage. 30 rounds weren’t enough to decide the winner and we continued the duel in overtime.

There, the Serbian powerhouse managed to clinch the victory. Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski’s BLUEJAYS squad suffered an uncomfortable loss but were ready to fight back on Inferno. Unfortunately for the Macedonians, iNation were even more ready to secure their second victory for the season. A 16-14 loss for BLUEJAYS means that they are now tied on the SWISS leaderboard (1-1), while iNation are in the lead (2-0).

Our second match of the day which started off-stream was a clash between SKUAK Gaming and JESTE. As Kujtim “gulito” Durmishi recently stated in one of our articles, JESTE were tough opponents and this match went to the third map as well. This time, though, the matches weren’t really close. JESTE bested the Albanian representatives in the league on Dust2 (16-10), while SKUAK came back with a convincing victory on Inferno (16-6). Our second match for today and the last match of this SWISS round ended with a victory for SKUAK.

 After the conclusion of the second SWISS round, the CS:GO leaderboard looks as follows:

CS:GO SWISS 2-2

This week in A1AL: Brawl Stars is nearing the group stage!

Since FIFA finished its qualifying phase last week, this week of A1 Adria League will be dedicated to Brawl Stars, CS:GO, and League of Legends.

Brawl Stars

FIFA’s qualifiers came to an end and Brawl Stars is quickly catching up. Now is your last chance to sign up and compete for a spot in the Brawl Stars group stage. Since they started participating in this season’s qualifiers, Salada de Frutas have won every single one of them and are now comfortably in the lead with 400 points. The second-placed team has half as much, and that team is Omert4. A lot can change in this sixth qualifier, as the lower-ranked teams are separated by a small margin of points. When we announce the eight qualified teams, the SWISS stage will commence.

Until then, SIGN UP for the sixth qualifier, or click HERE to read everything you need to know about this season of Brawl Stars. You can also check the current Brawl Stars standings.

League of Legends

Lupus eSports and Metamoon managed to outplay their opponents in the single-elimination qualifier and become the first two teams in this A1 Adria League season. The cup was filled with great teams from all over the region. Names like Harmony and Split Raiders, who also took part in the seventh season, competed in this qualifier but missed the chance to qualify. On Saturday, you can also try your best to compete for the €4.000 prize pool. Three qualifiers remain, and six spots are yet to be filled out.

Click HERE to sign up for the upcoming qualifier, or HERE to read everything you need to know about this season of Brawl Stars.

CS:GO

Another CS:GO playday is behind us, and what a playday it was. Even though Young Glorians put up a great fight, Marten Gaming comfortably closed out the game 2-0. The real spectacle happened between PORTUGAL and 4glory, with the former winning the BO3 series on Overpass, probably the least played map in the league. Two awesome duels are scheduled to be played on Sunday. JESTE will face the Albanian team SKUAK, while iNation and BLUEJAYS will clash spears in the second series of the day.

This week, we decided to contact Kujtim “gulito” Durmishi, the new SKUAK IGL. gulito talked about his experience in the A1 Adria League as well as the first round of the SWISS stage:

I’ve been playing A1 Adria League for around 3 years, I feel bad that I couldn’t enjoy any trophy for it , but I gained great experience during that time that I participated in A1 Adria League. Anyway we’re still in the tournament with SKUAK and we’ll try our best to make it out to playoffs first and then win it all the way.

About match vs JESTE, I’m thinking that one will be kinda hard, but with the way practice is going for us, it is gonna be a win, they’re strong opponents but we gonna try our best. About the Round 1 match vs iNation we had so many individual mistakes, but we have worked around that and we have prepared so that mistakes like that they don’t happen again, and for the limited time we have had for practice, that’s perfect.

The Macedonian teams begin the season with a win!

PORTUGAL and BLUEJAYS have outplayed Marten Gaming and JESTE, respectively, in our second Round 1 playday.

Our first match was a real spectacle. Rescheduled to 13:00 as Marten Gaming had the finals of the CS:GO BIH League later today, PORTUGAL vs. Marten Gaming started off the day with a blast. Anel “NENO” Ceković and his team dominated Marten in the first half of Mirage, Marten’s map pick, having a nine-round streak before their opponents could win one round. The half ended 11-4 in favor of PORTUGAL, but what happened next was miraculous. An absolutely perfect T side from  Petar “HOLMES” Dimitrijević’s new team secured them every single round of the second half, along with the entire map (16-11).

On Vertigo, PORTUGAL was the team that managed to do a comeback, although this one was of smaller proportions. After losing the first stages of the game 5-1, the Macedonian team won the half 9-6. Marten took the lead on the T side again, but PORTUGAL weren’t ready to lose yet another lead. They gave it their best and closed off Vertigo 16-14. Just like their T side on Mirage, PORTUGAL’s Nuke T side was brilliant. Dejan “Katalic” Koprivica & co. won only four rounds on their CT side. Marten had a good run in the second half, but Alexander “br0” Bro successfully lead his team to victory in the final map.

Our second duel of the day wasn’t short of surprises either. We watched Vertigo once again, but the course of this match was vastly different than the previous one. Where both teams dominated halves in our first match, this time, both JESTE and BLUEJAYS kept winning rounds and kept the game tied the entire time. In the end, we went to overtime and Jane “aidKiT” Apostoloski and BLUEJAYS won Vertigo. Inferno was no different. BLUEJAYS reached 15 first but were unable to finish the game in regulation. We watched overtime again, and this time, the winning team was JESTE.

The final map of the day was Mirage. Even though both teams were exhausted from the previous two maps, we still watched a great game. We watched overtime for the third time, with BLUEJAYS taking the final map in their favor. You can watch today’s playday below: