ESL Pro League S17 Group D Day 1 recap

The ESL Pro League Season 17 resumed yesterday with supercharged Group D matchups. ENCE, forZe, Team Spirit, and Rare Atom have moved to the next round of the event after winning their respective first-round encounter. Meanwhile, Astralis, Natus Vincere, and two other teams had a disappointing start and had been relegated to the mid-bracket of the competition. 

Rare Atom overcame Liquid in the opening game

The North American team Liquid were sent to the bottom bracket after getting thrashed by Rare Atom in the opening match of their ESL Pro League Season 17 campaign. The Chinese team dominated Liquid throughout the series, securing a hard victory on Inferno before annihilating the North American team 16-4 on Overpass to seal the deal.

ForZe surprise NAVI to move to the next round

After crushing NAVI, the second-highest-rated team in the group, FORZE is off to a strong start to their journey through ESL Pro League Season 17 Group D. Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev’s unending brilliance and his heroic attempt to save NAVI were swamped by Aleksandr “shalfey” Marenov’s exceptional performance for the Russian squad.

The Russian team first fell at Overpass before securing Ancient in overtime and finishing the game with a victory on Inferno. The Ukrainian team’s next match is on Thursday against Astralis, and they need to win that match to maintain their chances of securing a playoff spot and avoid falling to the last-bracket bracket.

Spirit upset Astalis to kickoff their Pro League campaign

In the first match, Russian-Ukrainian team Spirit demolished Astralis 2-0, holding them to just four rounds on Ancient before cruising to another commanding victory on Mirage. In the first map, Spirit heavily relied on Robert “Patsi” Isyanov’s firepower, but on the second, Igor “w0nderful” Zhdanov took the lead for the squad with his stunning performance on AWP.

ENCE send ATK to the lower bracket

With the help of Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer, who went above and beyond to help his team a 2-1 victory over ATK, ENCE advanced to the ESL Pro League Season 17 Group D upper bracket semi-final.

After a 16-6 victory over Anubis, the team had a promising start but ATK quickly rebounded and registered a 16:14 victory on Vertigo. ENCE, however, maintained their composure and clinched Ancient to knock their opponents to the mid-bracket.

ENCE will try to keep up their excellent form in their upcoming encounter against Rare Atom, which is scheduled to begin on Thursday. The Danish team, on the other hand, will have to work hard and play at the top of their game going ahead if they want to reach the playoffs. As they play their North American counterparts Liquid, the team will strive to avoid an early sentence to the competitive bottom bracket.

Header: Stephanie Lindgren/ ESL Gaming