ESL Pro League Season 14: NAVI and FaZe Clan Become the Leaders of the Standings
/The penultimate round of the ESL Pro League Season 14 group stage has ended. The intrigue in group C is still alive, so we are closely following the development of events on the final day. Well, before that, it is worth remembering what happened in the fourth round, since the fate of one team is already completely clear.
mousesports - fnatic
The game day was opened by a meeting between two applicants for the exit from the group. If mousesports was still hanging out in the tail before this match, then in the event of a victory fnatic guaranteed itself a place in the playoffs, gaining an additional three points.
However, the course of the meeting showed that the Swedish-British tandem does not always just run and shoot, but sometimes slows down and stalls out of the blue. This happened already on the Mirage map, where fnatic, having finished the first half with an advantage of three rounds, could not show anything in defense, now letting the "mice" run around the map. As a result, mousesports easily and naturally hammered the opponent in ten rounds, recording the final victory with a score of 16:10.
There was a little more intrigue on the Nuke map, as the teams were unable to identify the strongest in thirty rounds. As a result, the process smoothly flowed into overtime, where mousesports players were stronger - 19:16.
NAVI - Evil Geniuses
After the defeat to BIG, the Ukrainian team needed rehabilitation, since the most suitable opponent, Evil Geniuses, turned up at hand. North Americans are fighting only for prestige, namely the right not to repeat the "success" of Bad News Bears and the G2. However, the dynamics show that the "Evil Geniuses" will finish the tournament with the number "0" in the "Victories" column.
The match itself began on the Inferno map, which became the choice of the North American team. And again, Evil Geniuses imposed a fight only at the start of the meeting, becoming more passive and boring with each round. The guys from NAVI quickly took advantage of this, at some point taking a series of rounds in the attack. Well, EG could not do anything with such an opponent's pressure, losing another map with a score of 12:16.
Next, the Nuke map was waiting for us, on which one of the teams wanted to bury one of the teams even before the start of the first round. And again, “Evil Geniuses” floundered only in the first half, taking some meager six rounds in defense. Well, after the change of sides, NAVI got down to business, literally destroying all the attacking attempts of the opponent, who once again did not come up with anything in terms of tactics - 7:16.
BIG - FaZe Clan
In the evening we had a battle for six points, literally. The German team approached this meeting as a favorite, having dealt with NAVI the day before. At the same time, FaZe Clan was saddened by the recent defeat by fnatic, making its standings much more difficult.
However, on Dust 2, things quickly fell into place, as BIG clearly forgot yesterday's exploits. As a result, the team let the opponent go ahead even before the change of sides, clearly hoping to return in defense. However, here FaZe Clan again showed tactical skill and strong shooting, which finally shifted BIG - 16: 7.
On the Inferno map, the intrigue was alive only in the first half, because as soon as FaZe Clan went over to the side of the defense, the German team started having problems. As a result, olofmeister played his best map in two years, with whom Galacticos secured a landslide victory at their peak - 16: 9.
Group C table
A place | Command | Result | Rounds | Round difference | Points |
1 | NAVI | 3-1 | 120-100 | +20 | nine |
2 | FaZe Clan | 3-1 | 137-124 | +13 | nine |
3 | BIG | 2-2 | 124-112 | +12 | 6 |
4 | mousesports | 2-2 | 123-116 | +7 | 6 |
5 | fnatic | 2-2 | 134-138 | -4 | 6 |
6 | Evil Geniuses | 0-4 | 93-141 | -48 | 0 |
Today, August 31, we will find out who will advance to the playoffs from Group C. Before the last round, the alignments are such that NAVI and FaZe Clan have already made their way to the playoffs of the championship, while three teams will compete for the third line at once: fnatic, BIG and mousesports.
Matches history: ESL Pro League Season 14
ESL Pro League Season 14 is coming online from August 16 to September 12. 24 teams from Europe, Brazil, CIS and North America are competing for a total tournament prize pool of $ 750,000 and a lot of ranking points in the ESL Pro Tour and BLAST Premier tables. The winner will not only earn a solid cash reward of $ 175,000, but also receive a direct invite to BLAST Premier World Final 2021.