R6 EUL: G2 Show Up in Dominant Fashion

On the first play-day, we already saw the new G2 lineup pull off an easy 7-1 win over Virtus.pro. BDS Esport topped this with an effortless 7-0 finish over Team Empire. For the French elite team, this is a great start to the season. However, Vitality and Secret have also come out on top of their respective matchups.

Natus Vincere, the winners of the last EUL stage, had to be content with a 3-7 loss to Team Secret. Peter “pacbull” Bull made his return to Secret a noteworthy affair and recorded a 1.45 rating. On the NaVi camp, players struggled to even post positive KD ratios. Vitality and Cowana fought until the very last round of regulation. Only with a 3K, Bestien “BiBoo” Dulac managed to win the game in Vitality’s favor. Their 7-5 finish has kept them from losing points to Cowana.

ROGUE MAKE THINGS EXCITING

The German team’s fans probably lost their nerves during the Opening Match. With a 4-2 lead at half-time, it looked as though Rogue would mount a quick victory over TrainHard Esports. But TrainHard changed things as soon as they went on the offense. There, they quickly tied up the score and forced Rogue into overtime. To their fortune, Leon “LeonGids” Giddens delivered double and triple kills to still book an 8-6 victory in their favor.

So they narrowly escaped defeat. This one round difference should still sting, though, as they have only received two points in the standings. Other teams have had it much easier and earned three points after their respective matches ended well within regulation time.

BDS AND G2 AT THE TOP

Empire had suffered a lot of losses during the most recent Stage 1, ending up at the bottom of the scoreboard. At the Six Invitational, they were suddenly going strong again, but this hasn’t transferred over to EUL Stage 2. At least during their Opening Match, they were outclassed by a much much stronger BDS Esport.

Their strats didn’t matter. Every attempt, every approach didn’t work out. Across the entire game, they only managed to kill Loic “BriD” Chongthep once. The BDS star put up an insane 8-1 KD and earned a 2.13 rating. It can’t get much better, even though Stéphane “Shaiiko” Lebleu recorded 10 kills himself as well. On the side of Empire, no player managed to pass the 3-kills mark.

Virtus.pro had a similarly hard time going up against G2 Esports. After the last remains of the 2019 Six Invitational winning roster had waved goodbye, the new guns had to fill some really big shoes. Lucas “Hungry” Reich managed to do that in his first match with a 1.74 rating already. He was only beaten out by Ben “CTZN” McMillan, who did his usual superstar things and brought 13 kills to the plate. After just 8 rounds, the match was done and dusted – not as dominant as the BDS encounter, but G2 Esports have successfully announced themselves to the competition at Stage 2.

Now, they just have to press on. Just like last year, Secret are starting off strong with pacbull, but they need to retain momentum and not lose their calm in the most crucial moments. BDS and G2 have shown their potential, but it still remains to be seen if that’s indicative of their long-term performance.