The Chinese squad took down IHC twice in a row to secure their spot in the Conference stage of ESL's flagship league.

Rare Atom have secured their spot at the ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference stage with a victory in the grand final of ESL Challenger League Season 41 Asia-Pacific, taking another one of the hottest teams in the region out, IHC.

Despite the 3-1 scoreline, only three of the four scheduled maps were played in the best-of-five final, as Zhuo "⁠advent⁠" Liang and his men came to the grand final with a map advantage, having beaten all of their previous rivals in the playoffs, Born in Mongolia, ARAVT and IHC.

Kaze led the way in the grand final with a 1.33 rating

Bat-Enkh "⁠kabal⁠" Batbayar and company came out in full force to tie the series up, taking Ancient 16-0, but weren't able to keep up on the following two maps, Mirage and Overpass. This victory marks Rare Atom's eleventh victory out of twelve matches in Asia dating all the way back to the end of March, having since shown consistent good form with newcomers Qianhao "⁠Moseyuh⁠" Chen and Jingxiang "⁠Mercury⁠" Wang.

Rare Atom now join Falcons and paiN as the first teams through to the upcoming ESL Pro League Conference, making this the second time in a row that they qualify through the Asian ESL Challenger League, although they had to give their spot up in Season 16 to TYLOO due to visa issues.

Up next, Andrew "⁠kaze⁠" Khong and company will have the chance to prove their prowess on LAN against international competition at ESL Challenger Valencia on July 1-3, where they have been drawn in a group with MIBR, Movistar Riders and HUMMER.

ESL Challenger League Season 41 Asia-PacificBest of 5 Rare AtomMatchpage 3 1 27th June 2022 IHC 1Default 0 0Ancient 16 16Mirage 13 16Overpass 11

Rare Atom	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Andrew 'kaze' Khongkaze	62 - 44	+18	86.7	1.33
Yi 'JamYoung' YangJamYoung	52 - 47	+5	79.3	1.10
Jingxiang 'Mercury' WangMercury	53 - 52	+1	79.3	1.08
Qianhao 'Moseyuh' ChenMoseyuh	43 - 52	-9	68.1	0.87
Zhuo 'advent' Liangadvent	31 - 56	-25	54.6	0.78

IHC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Garidmagnai 'bLitz' ByambasurenbLitz	65 - 45	+20	92.2	1.30
Tengis 'sk0R' Batjargalsk0R	60 - 50	+10	87.9	1.20
Bat-Enkh 'kabal' Batbayarkabal	47 - 46	+1	65.7	1.00
Yesuntumur 'nin9' Gantulganin9	42 - 52	-10	73.9	0.91
Sodbayar 'Techno' MunkhboldTechno	37 - 48	-11	54.7	0.88

ARAVT Munkhtamir 'tamir' GanbaatarTelmen 'shinobi' BatzorigSodbileg 'cool4st' BatbaatarUnudelger 'controlez' BaasanjargalDavaasuren 'fury5k' Ganbaatar Falcons #35 Ali 'hAdji' HaïnoussBryan 'Maka' CandaNicolas 'Keoz' DgusJordan 'Python' Munck-FoehrleJayson 'Kyojin' Nguyen Van MIBR #20 Marcelo 'chelo' CespedesRaphael 'exit' LacerdaMatheus 'Tuurtle' AnhaiaJhonatan 'JOTA' WillianBreno 'brnz4n' Poletto Rare Atom #69 Zhuo 'advent' LiangAndrew 'kaze' KhongYi 'JamYoung' YangJingxiang 'Mercury' WangQianhao 'Moseyuh' Chen IHC #31 Bat-Enkh 'kabal' BatbayarYesuntumur 'nin9' GantulgaTengis 'sk0R' BatjargalGaridmagnai 'bLitz' ByambasurenSodbayar 'Techno' Munkhbold TYLOO #54 YuLun 'Summer' CaiHansel 'BnTeT' FerdinandYuanZhang 'Attacker' ShengKelun 'SLOWLY' SunZhenghao 'DANK1NG' Lv Movistar Riders #18 Alejandro 'alex' MasanetAlejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo CanoRaúl 'DeathZz' Jordán NietoÁlvaro 'SunPayus' GarcíaDavid 'dav1g' Granado Bermudo Qianhao 'Moseyuh' Chen Age: 17 Team: Rare Atom Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 32 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.64 Andrew 'kaze' Khong Age: 27 Team: Rare Atom Rating 1.0: 1.19 Maps played: 847 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.59 Bat-Enkh 'kabal' Batbayar Age: 27 Team: IHC Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 794 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.65 HUMMER #38 Caio 'zqkS' FonsecaGustavo 'SHOOWTiME' GonçalvesFelipe 'delboNi' DelboniDaniel 'danoco' MorgadoCristopher 'ckzao' Chalus Zhuo 'advent' Liang Age: 30 Team: Rare Atom Rating 1.0: 0.87 Maps played: 1084 KPR: 0.56 DPR: 0.63 Born in Mongolia #148 Chinguun 'hasteka' BayarmaaUsukhbayar '910' BanzragchOchirbat 'VAINN' TserendorjTushig 'IMAGINE' BoldbaatarSergelen 'sergelen19k' Baldansaruul paiN #22 Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoGabriel 'NEKIZ' SchenatoWesley 'hardzao' LopesRodrigo 'biguzera' BittencourtGabriel 'nython' Lino Jingxiang 'Mercury' Wang Age: 21 Team: Rare Atom Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 57 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.67