AVANGAR are through to the ninth-place decider final after defeating Renegades 16-10 on Mirage.

The first match in the ninth-place decider saw Dmitry "⁠dimasick⁠" Matvienko open up the action with a stunning quad-kill in the pistol round as AVANGAR denied their opponents' B execution. A third-round buy from Renegades yielded the Australians their first round in the game, but then AVANGAR were able to reply immediately on a force-buy, which propelled them into a 5-1 lead.

After buying up again, Renegades secured multiple rounds to keep AVANGAR's economy in check, but they would not be able to take the lead as the Kazakhstani side bagged the final three rounds together to secure a 9-6 halftime lead.

Jame was a nuisance for Renegades all game long

Now playing on the Terrorist side, AVANGAR further added to their lead by taking the pistol round and the subsequent anti-ecos. Although Renegades then strung three rounds together, the first gun round won by AVANGAR put the Australians in a dire economic situation.

After watching AVANGAR hit match point, Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic single-handedly kept Renegades in it with four kills, but a miraculous comeback was not on the cards as Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov picked up a triple-kill in the next round to give his team one more shot at reaching the New Legends stage.

ELEAGUE Major 2018 Challengers StageBest of 1 RenegadesMatchpage 10 16 16th January 2018 AVANGAR 10Mirage 16

Renegades	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	24 - 17	+7	104.6	1.49
Karlo 'USTILO' PivacUSTILO	20 - 21	-1	79.3	1.06
Justin 'jks' Savagejks	17 - 19	-2	75.1	0.98
Aaron 'AZR' WardAZR	15 - 24	-9	64.6	0.67
Noah 'Nifty' FrancisNifty	11 - 21	-10	40.8	0.58

AVANGAR	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dzhami 'Jame' AliJame	30 - 14	+16	99.5	1.81
Alexey 'Qikert' GolubevQikert	23 - 19	+4	92.7	1.23
Dmitry 'dimasick' Matvienkodimasick	19 - 17	+2	95.2	1.18
Timur 'buster' Tulepovbuster	15 - 17	-2	67.8	1.01
Aidyn 'KrizzeN' TurlybekovKrizzeN	15 - 20	-5	62.0	0.89

AVANGAR #37 Dmitry 'dimasick' MatvienkoTimur 'buster' TulepovAidyn 'KrizzeN' TurlybekovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' Ali Dmitry 'dimasick' Matvienko Age: 21 Team: AVANGAR Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 174 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.67 Renegades #20 Justin 'jks' SavageAaron 'AZR' WardKeith 'NAF' MarkovicKarlo 'USTILO' PivacNoah 'Nifty' Francis Timur 'buster' Tulepov Age: 18 Team: AVANGAR Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 240 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Keith 'NAF' Markovic Age: 20 Team: Renegades Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 670 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.65