Credit: Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK
A competitive day of action in Group B of the ESL Pro League Season 15 in Dusseldorf, Germany didn’t change much in the standings, as the favorites coming into the day — FURIA Esports, ENCE and FaZe Clan – finished in that order in the final Group B standings.
FURIA’s point differential gave the Brazilian organization the tie-breaker for first place at 4-1 as well as the corresponding bye into the quarterfinals.
ENCE, also 4-1, will advance to the Round of 12 along with FaZe, who finished 3-2.
It was the latter squad that provided most of the day’s drama, as only a victory over first-place FURIA would have assured advancement for FaZe, and the team came through, winning 2-1.
FaZe won 16-9 on Nuke, lost 16-6 on Inferno and won 16-13 on Mirage.
Despite a big day from FURIA’s Rafael “saffee” Costa (68-56 kills-to-deaths ratio), FaZe utilized 50-kill days from a trio of players – Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, Helvijs “broky” Saukants and Robin “ropz” Kool — to take the victory.
The door for FaZe’s advancement was left further open when Outsiders took a 2-0 defeat to Vitality, leaving both of those teams 2-3. Team Vitality won 16-7 on Dust II and 16-13 on Inferno.
France’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut finished an outstanding plus-22 (50-28 K-D ratio) to pace Vitality. Outsiders were led by Russia’s Dzhami “Jame” Ali, who posted 42 kills.
The other game of the day saw ENCE defeat Sprout 2-1. After losing 19-17 on Vertigo, ENCE prevailed 16-10 on Mirage and 16-14 on Ancient. ENCE’s Lotan “Spinx” Giladi of Israel posted an astounding plus-42 with 98 kills.
Group C play begins Wednesday with three matches:
Players vs. Partyz
GOD vs. Riders
Liquid vs. BIG
Final Group B standings, with win-loss record and point differential:
T1. FURIA Esports, 4-1, +37
T1. ENCE, 4-1, +33
3. FaZe Clan, 3-2, +13
T4. Outsiders, 2-3, -5
T4. Team Vitality, 2-3, -20
6. Sprout, 0-5, -58
–Field Level Media