ESL Pro League S20 is in full swing, and a few days into the action, there have already been a few shock results. We’re here to talk you through some of the storylines developing in Malta, as Groups A and B hurtle towards their conclusions over the next couple of days.
Credit: Igor Bezborodov | © ESL
As expected, NAVI and G2 have become two of the first Playoffs teams at ESL Pro League S20 after winning their first two matchups. For NAVI, it’s been smooth sailing so far, making their run without dropping a single map. Only a single overtime against Lynn Vision had NAVI worrying for a hot minute, but in the end, they emerged from their LV and NIP clashes unscathed.
Life on G2’s side has been a little tougher. Their 2:0 opener against KOI was straightforward enough, but they required a reverse-sweep to beat 3DMAX, requiring some heroics from malbsMd and m0NESY to pull them through. G2 have faced plenty of criticism of late, and their showing in Malta so far will do little to dissuade the negative opinions of this roster, despite the two wins so far.
NAVI and G2 are joined in the Upper Bracket Finals by Eternal Fire and MIBR respectively, with all four teams having already punched their ticket to the Playoffs.
Credit: Igor Bezborodov | © ESL
After two losses, Heroic and NIP both find themselves on the verge of an early elimination from ESL Pro League S20. Heroic’s circumstances are tragic – only losing their first match to NIP after TeSeS was caught accidentally using Snap Tap, resulting in a decisive map win being overturned by ESL. Their next failure in the Lower Bracket came at the hands of Sangal, and Heroic must now run the full Last Chance gauntlet if they’re to make it to the next stage of the event.
Meanwhile, NIP have been unfortunate to meet both NAVI and FaZe so far in the tournament. Sometimes, these things are just the luck of the draw, and fate has not been on their side with some tough matchups to start with. Heroic and NIP now go head-to-head once again, a rematch of their opening match. This time, TeSeS will be sure to triple-check that Snap Tap is turned off.
Credit: Igor Bezborodov | © ESL
How have we ended up here? Both FaZe and Spirit already find themselves in the Lower Brackets of ESL Pro League S20’s Group Stage. We know both of these teams have been inconsistent of late, but this has been really rough to watch so far. FaZe’s run got off to a rocky start from the off, losing their opener to huge underdog Sangal. They’ve won their two matchups since, but it still hasn’t looked entirely clean.
Then, there’s Spirit. A real one-man army if we ever saw one. When donk dropped 38 kills in regulation insuring their opener against Wildcard and Spirit still almost lost, we knew something wasn’t right. Their match with MIBR to drop them to the Lower Bracket was equally rough. On the final map of the series, donk managed 36 kills, yet it still wasn’t enough as Spirit suffered defeat on the map. They’re in a real slump right now, with magixx, chopper, and zont1x all struggling to frag. Even this prodigy might not be enough to save them at ESL Pro League S20.
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