The first victims of the playoffs have been found as Team Liquid and FunPlus Phoenix were the first to be eliminated.
With the ESL Pro League Group stage concluded, the knockout stage began with two close contests between G2 and Team Liquid and followed as FPX lost out to Furia.
Furia took the first win of the playoffs by knocking out FunPlus Phoenix in a 2-1 series. With their roster facing imminent changes, FunPlus Phoenix were perhaps not in the best state going into the series after Miikka “suNny” Kemppi revealed that EPL would be his final event on the roster. The first map, Nuke, was a close bout with both teams showing streaky performances though FPX were able to overcome their deficit to claim the first win.
Furia fired back by having the most dominant game of the series, taking Vertigo 16-4. Every member of the Brazilian squad managed to finish above the FPX roster in overall standings. Furia followed this performance by closing out the series 16-11 on Inferno. Vinicius “VINI” Figueiredo was instrumental to Furia’s success as he found 73 kills, 90 ADR, and a 1.42 overall rating after the 3 game series.
The next series featured a grudge match between G2 and Team Liquid where ultimately the European team prevailed in a 2-1 contest. Team Liquid managed to hold a healthy lead throughout the first map, Dust2, as the heroics of Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo propelled them to a 11-16 win.
The sole NA squad’s luck ran out over the course of the next two maps as Nemanja “huNter-” Kovac and Francois “AmaNEk” Delaunay put the series in G2’s favor. Starting on Vertigo, G2 took a convincing 16-12 win after a dominant T-side where TL only took 3 total rounds. The tightest game of the series, Inferno, ended the series as TL nearly took the map to OT, but ultimately fell 16-14.
HuNter- largely took control of the series for G2, ending with 70 kills and 88 ADR. In a tweet after the game, huNter- largely cited the reintroduction of Audric “JaCkz” Jug for G2’s renewed success in ESL. Now, the European squad will go on to face Furia in their next series.
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