ESL Pro League S18: Movistar Riders and GamerLegion advance to Upper Bracket semifinals

The CS:GO competitive scene continues in full swing, and on August 30, the ESL Pro League S18 kicked off, where we had the first four matches of Group A with some surprises and other expected results.

In the early matches, Movistar Riders surprised by crushing FURIA Esports 2-0, while GamerLegion applied the same dose against Grayhound Gaming. As a result, both Movistar Riders and GamerLegion advanced to the semifinals of the Upper Bracket Group A. On the other hand, FURIA and Grayhound will have to play for their lives in the Lower Bracket if they want to dream of getting the third spot in Group A for the tournament playoffs.

Now, without further ado, let’s see what happened on the first day of the ESL Pro League S18.

Movistar Riders give a new blow to FURIA Esports

FURIA Esports’ new lineup continues to give a lot to talk about, but because of their disappointing results so far. Things have not turned out as the team, players, and fans would have dreamed with the arrival of Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo to the team’s ranks. Likewise, it is still too early to crucify a lineup that undoubtedly has some really good players.

In this opening ESL Pro League S18 match, Movistar Riders gave a CS:GO lesson to take a 2-0 victory and give another blow to the Brazilians.

It all started in Overpass, the map pick of Movistar Riders, where the Spanish squad showed a high level of play that surprised the Brazilians. In the first half, Movistar Riders took an excellent victory by 9-6 on their side, T. Then, at the change of sides, the boys of FURIA could do absolutely nothing against the fierce defense of the Spaniards and ended up losing by 8-16.

In the second map, Nuke, we all expected things to change radically and for FURIA to get back into the game. However, the Spanish squad had other plans, and after an 11-4 first half, they showed that they are here to stay. Then, with the change of sides, the Brazilian squad tried to wake up and scored 13-13. Finally, the Spanish offense found the weak point of FURIA to take the victory by 16-13.

The Opening match of #ESLProLeague S18 goes the way of @Movistar_Riders! They put a stop to the @FURIA comeback to defeat them 2-0!

16-8 Overpass
16-13 Nuke pic.twitter. com/tK6bQqpHxa

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) August 30, 2023

GamerLegion kicked off ESL Pro League S18 with a bang

GamerLegion got an excellent clean sweep to win over Grayhound Gaming to seal their ticket to the Upper Bracket semifinals in Group A. While Grayhound put up a bit of a fight on both maps, GL’s experience and determination led them to a comfortable victory.

It all started on Anubis, GhG’s map pick, where GL got off to a strong start by taking a solid 10-5 first-half win on their T-side. Then, as the sides switched, Grayhound could do nothing to overcome GamerLegion’s defense and fell 9-16.

Then, the teams moved to Ancient, a somewhat more balanced map, considering that Grayhound came close to coming back. However, GL recovered and managed to take the victory by 16-13. In the first half, for the second map in a row, GamerLegion took a partial victory on their T-side by 10-5. Then, GhG tried to wake up by winning the first 4 rounds of the second half to put the score 10-9. However, this was not enough, as GL’s defense carried their team to victory.

.@GamerLegion close out their first series of #ESLProLeague Season 18 2-0 against @grayhoundgaming!

16-9 Anubis
16-13 Ancient pic.twitter.com/rPuYRsohKo

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) August 30, 2023

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