NaVi, FURIA, paiN, and G2 advance to Round of 12 of EPL S17 Playoffs

The moment of truth has arrived, where teams must win in a direct elimination format with no second chances. The ESL Pro League Playoffs are underway, and we already have the first teams qualified for the next round, NaVi, FURIA, paiN Gaming, and G2 Esports.

With this, we could see how the only team that came with the label of favorite in this phase that was left out was Team Liquid. The North Americans continue to show a somewhat irregular performance and have been unable to advance to the next phase.

G2 Esports reaffirms its status as favorite and crushes Movistar Riders

The first team to advance to the next phase of these playoffs was G2 Esports, the current #1 team in the world, which, surprisingly, had to start from the first phase. The series against Movistar Riders was played on Vertigo and Inferno, as there was no need for a decisive map.

Vertigo

Movistar Riders started their map pick phenomenally, achieving a partial victory of 8-7 on the T-side. Undoubtedly, this encouraged the Spaniards, who saw how it was possible to hurt G2. After that, however, Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač and Justin “jks” Savage ensured that Movistar Riders’ illusions ended, as with a crushing 9-2, they took the victory 16-10 on the first map.

Inferno

Although Movistar Riders fought great on the first map, it was not so on the second one. The Spaniards were completely decimated by the power of G2 Esports and couldn’t support Antonio “Martinez,” Martinez, who did his best, but it wasn’t enough. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov proved once again that Inferno is one of his best maps, as he finished with a Rating of 1.61, according to HLTV.

G2 started with everything on the T side and got a partial victory of 10-5 that was, indisputably, impossible to overcome for the Spaniards, who could only win a round in the change of sides to end up falling with a score of 6-16.

With this victory, G2 will look for a pass to the quarterfinals of the ESL Pro League in their clash against ENCE.

FURIA stuns Fnatic and sends them home with an excellent 2-0 win

One of the series that was presumed to be more evenly matched ended up being very open, as FURIA Esports managed to send Fnatic home with an excellent final score of 2-0. Again, Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato carried the Brazilians to victory and finished the series with 83.3 ADR and a 1.27 Rating, according to HLTV.

This series was played on Ancient (Fnatic) and Anubis (FURIA). While it is true that both maps were close, FURIA showed more determination than the Europeans to take the victory.

Ancient

FURIA managed to strike the first blow in Ancient thanks to KSCERATO, who was inspired from the start of the map. However, several rounds of Rafael “saffee” Costa saved some rounds for FURIA, which undoubtedly helped them get the 16-13 victory on the first map.

Anubis

The dominance of KSCERATO and saffee continued in Anubis, as both managed to be the executioners of a Fnatic that had Freddy “KRIMZ” Johansson as their main striker, but they couldn’t do much. Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi also gave some signs of quality, but they were not enough to prevent the Brazilian team from winning.

Two key plays in Anubis undoubtedly determined the future of the match. An excellent play by KSCERATO in Site B, saving a game at a numerical disadvantage and a round of saffee with the AWP in which he finished off three opponents in a spectacular display.

FURIA takes the victory 16-13 against Fnatic and will look for their pass to the quarterfinals in the match against FaZe Clan.

paiN Gaming delivers a lethal blow to Team Liquid

One of our surprises on this first day was the elimination of Team Liquid by paiN Gaming. Undoubtedly, the Brazilians continue to show a great level, but Team Liquid was the favorite to advance in this key. However, the victory was a crushing 2-0, and the most worrying aspect of the situation is the performance shown by Liquid’s players.

Mirage (Team Liquid)

It all started extremely badly for the North Americans, as paiN managed to win the first half 9-6 and then hit them hard on the T side with a 7-1 partial to take the map 16-7. Rodrigo “biguzera” Bittencourt finished this match with 116-7 ADR and a 1.78 Rating.

Ancient (paiN)

Liquid did not recover from the blow received in the first map until the second half of Ancient. However, it was too late, as the first half ended 10-5 in favor of the Brazilians, who only had to go six rounds to take the victory and advance to the next phase, as they did. This time, Felipe “skullz” Medeiros put an end to Team Liquid’s hopes of coming back from behind. Ultimately, the Brazilians won 16-12 and will now play against MOUZ for a place in the quarterfinals.

NaVi suffers against 00 Nation but manages to advance to the next stage

Marcelo “coldzera” David and 00 Nation showed that they are at a high level in this series against NaVi. Although they did not manage to win, the Brazilians had a great performance against the Ukrainian team. The series was played on Ancient (00 Nation), Overpass (NaVi), and Mirage (decisive).

Ancient

NaVi managed to strike the first blow in the series at Ancient, the map pick of 00 Nation, but it was not as easy as they would have imagined. The Brazilians almost pulled off a spectacular comeback and even were leading 13-12 at one point, but Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy had a great game and led NaVi to a 16-14 victory.

Overpass

When NaVi thought it would be all over on their map pick, 00 Nation told them: No, not here!

The Brazilians managed to crush NaVi in Overpass with a phenomenal display from Bruno “latto” Rebelatto, who finished with 115.8 ADR and a 1.73 Rating. Unfortunately, NaVi could not stop the Brazilian attacks and fell 8-16.

Mirage

Finally, NaVi woke up and beat the Brazilians 16-4 to win the series 2-1 and advance to the next phase, where they must play for a place in the quarterfinals against Outsiders.

Header: ESL