ESL ANZ Champs Season 16: Grayhound, Vertex Claim Victories Early In Stage 1

Republished By Plato

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ANZ Champs returns in 2023 with Stage 1 already underway as of the March 27. With a direct slot into Pro League Season 18 on the line, the ten squads will battle it out for yet another chance to show what Aussies can do on the international stage.

ANZ Champs Season 16 is underway
A ESL Pro League slot at stake
Grayhound & Vertex already pocketing two wins

Season 15 saw both finalists, Grayhound and Rooster earn spots into the Pro League conference and then each claim spots for Season 17 of Pro League.

Squads including Vertex, Encore and e-Lemon-ators return to ANZ Champs as well as The Big Dogs, who played under Antic in Season 15 of ANZ Champs. Stirlz’s Angels and Sunday School round out the initial eight teams for this season, but two more will arrive in Stage 2 after a Last Chance qualifier.

Okay, so we heard that you might’ve had some CS:GO withdrawals.

We’re here to solve that, you see. 🧐

Tonight the ESL #ANZChamps returns, and look, you’re not ready. 😤 pic.twitter.com/7QtxsrBHxb

— ESL Australia 🔜 DreamHack Melbourne (@ESLAustralia) March 27, 2023

With six matches already played out, Season 16 of ANZ Champs is already chugging along as the initial lineup of eight teams battle it out in Stage 1.

Vertex and Grayhound have put their best foot forward, winning both their matches so far and nudging themselves closer to locking in an early spot in the playoffs.

ANZ Champs action returns on April 11, giving teams a small break over Easter as well as giving Grayhound and Vertex the time to compete in the APAC RMR taking place over the Easter weekend.

We’re covering everything ESL ANZ Champs S16: streams, results and more.

ESL ANZ Champs Season 16 Streams

Be sure not to miss any ANZ Champs action and watch live on Twitch. You can see all the action, or catch up on any matches you miss via the ESL Australia Twitch channel.

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ESL ANZ Champs Season 16 Schedule & Results

ESL ANZ Champs Season 16 features two stages and both are double-elimination brackets, with all matches being Bo3. In Stage 1, the top two squads advance directly to playoffs and the next six teams will proceed to Stage 2.

Stage 2 will introduce two more teams following a last chance qualifier and once again, only the top two teams will advance from this stage and round out the playoff bracket.

Round 1 of the lower bracket begins on April 11 and the first pair of teams will be knocked out of Stage 1 and have to wait for Stage 2 in order to make the playoffs.

ESL ANZ Champs Season 16 — Stage One Schedule & Results

Match	Teams	Time (AEST)
Opening Round
Monday, Mar 27	Vertex 2-1 Sunday School	5pm
	Grayhound 2-0 Stirlz’s Angels	9pm
Tuesday, Mar 28	e-LEMON-ators 2-1 Rooster	5pm
	The Big Dogs 2-0 Encore	8:40pm
Upper Bracket Semifinals
Wednesday, Mar 29	Vertex 2-0 e-LEMON-ators	5pm
	Grayhound 2-0 The Big Dogs
Lower Bracket Round 1
Tuesday, Apr 11	Sunday School v Rooster	6pm
	Stirlz’s Angels v Encore	8:30pm

ESL ANZ Champs Season 16 Rosters

Following on from the end of Season 15, the teams who finished in the top 6 have largely remained in-tact, outside of a couple changes.

Notably, Vertex have brought on HaZR who was on Encore in the last season and SaVage is now on Encore. SWANKY is in for Chelleos on Rooster, and e-LEMON-ators look largely a new squad with apocdud and yourwombat being the only members to carry on from Season 15.

Additionally, Stirlz’s Angels replaced Band Camp as the final team in ANZ Champs as the next best placing squad from the closed qualifier.

Team	Squad
Grayhound Gaming	Sico	Liazz	aliStair	Vexite	INS
Vertex Esports Club	BRACE	ADDICT	pz	HaZR	malta
The Big Dogs	SkulL	Damyo	N1ghtraid	forevint	Jry
Encore	ap0c	Hatz	sterling	Liki	SaVage
e-LEMON-ators	apocdud	yourwombat	viridian	foggers	nauh
Sunday School	rekonz	mizzy	versa	guag	nexar
Rooster	SWANKY	Rackem	nettik	asap	TjP
Stirlz’s Angels	ObZen	Drox	ToM	callum_murray	gump
TBD
TBD