BIG came from behind to beat Complexity 2-1 on Wednesday as Group B got underway at the ESL Pro League Season 17 in Malta.
The other three Group B openers were 2-0 sweeps, with Heroic defeating Movistar Riders, FURIA Esports downing Imperial Esports and MOUZ topping SAW.
The $850,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began with 32 teams divided into four groups for the double-elimination opening round.
The group-stage winners move into the quarterfinals, with the group runners-up heading to the Round of 12 as high seeds. The four third-place teams enter in the Round of 16 as high seeds, and the four fourth-place teams go to the Round of 16 as low seeds.
Group A was completed last week, with Cloud9 coming in first, Outsiders in second, G2 Esports in third and Fnatic in fourth.
Group C play will begin on March 8, and Group D play will start on March 15.
The tournament champion will receive $200,000 plus berths in the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne this summer and the BLAST Premier World Final in December.
On Wednesday, Complexity opened with a 16-8 win on Ancient, but BIG rallied to take Nuke 16-12 and Vertigo 16-14. Germany’s Marcel “hyped” Kohn paced BIG with 65 kills and a plus-12 kill-death differential. The United States’ Ricky “floppy” Kemery finished with 65 kills and a plus-13 K-D differential for Complexity.
Heroic routed Movistar Riders 16-6 on Ancient and 16-5 on Overpass. Martin “stavn” Lund logged 45 kills and a plus-23 K-D differential for Heroic’s all-Danish squad. Alejandro “mopoz” Fernandez-Quejo Cano led Movistar Riders’ all-Spanish team with 30 kills and a minus-7 K-D differential.
FURIA Esports squeezed past Imperial Esports 16-13 on Inferno and 19-16 in overtime on Mirage in a battle of all-Brazilian teams. Rafael “saffee” Costa produced 56 kills and a plus-22 K-D differential for FURIA. Imperial got 41 kills and a minus-1 K-D differential from Ricardo “boltz” Prass.
MOUZ dumped SAW 16-3 on Vertigo and 16-9 on Ancient. Israel’s Dorian “xertioN” Berman logged 42 kills and a plus-22 K-D differential for MOUZ.
Tiago “JUST” Moura posted 23 kills and a minus-12 K-D differential for SAW’s all-Portuguese team.
ESL Pro League Season 17 prize pool and points distribution
1. $200,000, 3,000 BLAST Premier points, qualification for Intel Extreme Masters Cologne and BLAST Premier World Final
2. $90,000, 2,000 BLAST Premier points
3-4. $50,000, 1,200 BLAST Premier points
5-8. $35,000, 500 BLAST Premier points
9-12. $25,000
13-16. $20,000
17-20. $15,000 — Eternal Fire
21-28. $8,000 — MIBR, IHC Esports
29-32. $4,000 — Evil Geniuses
–Field Level Media