StarLadder Berlin Major 2019: results of the second round
Ihor MatusWho surprised us?
Avangar
In the confrontation between Renegades and AVANGAR, the Kazakhs came up as an outsider, albeit not explicitly. At the mapveto stage, the teams came to the conclusion that they would play on Vertigo, perhaps the most non-standard map. Thanks to this, AVANGAR were able to surprise their Australian opponents and beat them with a score of 16-13. The team was close to defeat and Renegades could win the game, but in the second half they made a number of critical errors that affected the final outcome of the match.
NRG Esports
The match with the most unpredictable result was precisely the duel between Team Liquid and NRG Esports. Most viewers were confident in the victory of Twistzz and his teammates, however, the NRG fought well with their countrymen and defeated them with a score of 16-9. Part of the audience thinks that Liquid intentionally lost in the confrontation in order to leave their best strategies at a more appropriate moment. The idea is interesting, but we will find out whether it is right or not very soon.
Vitality
Vitality had a better chance of winning the match against FaZe and they approached this meeting as a favorite. What then did the French surprise us with? Performance. Very good performance. In the previous stage, they did not play very well and hardly reached the Legends Stage. In the match against FaZe Clan, the French team played so well that when they led with a score of 9-0 and gave one round to their European opponents, then all of the spectators were truly happy for their opponents. The first half ended with the score 13-2, and the final result of the match - 16-7. Today’s opponents of Vitality will not be as simple as FaZe, and therefore they will have much more difficult.
Who showed the expected results?
Natus vincere
NAVI played against DreamEaters and the meeting ended very predictably. “Born to win” gave their opponents only 7 rounds and, thanks to a good result, reached the middle matches of the third round. Today they have to play against a rather difficult opponent, mousesports . Will they be able to win? Find out in today's forecasts , which will appear a little later.
CR4ZY
CR4ZY fought with Ninjas in Pajamas , who play with a replacement. There is nothing remarkable about their victory. The European team performed well and thanks to this went to the middle matches of the third round, where they will fight with FaZe Clan. NiP, in turn, today will compete for a further stay in the championship and most likely will leave the championship.
mousesports
mousesports yesterday fought North in an equal and difficult battle. The chances of victory were almost equal, which means that in any situation the result would not have surprised anyone. In addition, the meeting ended with a score of 16-13, which confirms our words that the fight was on an equal footing, and the participants in the match were worthy of each other. Today mousesports will play with Natus Vincere in the middle matches of the third round, and North, in turn, will compete with NiP for their further stay in the tournament.
ENCE
ENCE's victory over MIBR is not surprising. Brazilians are in poor game form and have problems in terms of teamwork and individual skills of some representatives of the roster. What MIBR lacks is ENCE's, with the exception of the team spirit of all five players. A few days before the start of the Major tournament, Aleksib learned from his teammates that he would kick after the tournament, and therefore he did not particularly communicate with his teammates, which is evident on the broadcasts of the tournament. Despite this, Aleksi Virolainen has excellent statistics and rides his opponents in a skating rink. ENCE will try to enter the Champions Stage today, and Vitality will interfere with them. The MIBRs, in turn, will come face to face with G2 in the middle games of the third round to determine where they will move further.
Astralis
Astralis is now in great shape. If in the first half of the match G2 went flush and took 7 rounds from Astralis, then after the sides switched, they could not oppose anything to their opponents without taking a single round for the defense side. The only thing they could show was a very interesting, unusual and extremely rare moment. When all opponents were killed in the last G2 round, the French, unaware of the bomb planted, began to rejoice at the round won, after which, to the sound of the C4 explosion, their Danish rivals were declared the winner of the match.