The second week of ELP has commenced and already brought us some exciting matches!
With dignitas and G2 in two separate matchups this evening, there already were two teams in the prime spot to prove themselves. Both teams have had surprising and decently strong runs recently. Whilst G2 of course had the harder opponent in fnatic, Dignitas were to prove that they are not just a "one-hit-wonder", so to say.
Fnatic vs. G2 eSports - Cobblestone & Inferno, 2 BO1s
G2 being freshly branded under G2 have in recent times managed to get into the quarterfinals of the Global eSports Cup amongst other strong contenders, and in this league they have already managed to upset a very strong Astralis. Of course everyone would highly favor Fnatic in this situation, but a surprising upset by G2 would not be impossible.
On the first map, de_cbble, things unfortunately did not work out for G2 at all. It is unneccessary to describe this match in epic length, as fnatic constantly had the control, winning the pistol- as well as follow-up-rounds. All but five times, Fnatic closed the round in their favour, giving the map a final score 16-5 in favor of the Swedes.
Hopes were high for G2 to revitalize on de_Inferno, but it basically panned out to be a pretty unspectacular rematch of the first map. In the fashion of a slight upset, however, G2 won the force buy round after fnatic had run away with the first pistol round, but apart from six small rounds, Fnatic were unstoppable in closing it out 16-7.
Virtus.Pro vs. dignitas - Mirage & Overpass, 2 BO1s
This match was particularly interesting due to the fact that both had already fought at DreamHack Leipzig, a match in which dignitas had shown up historically strong, whereas VP brought a historically bad performance. This would of course serve as a rematch and would either show that the Danes are remaining stable on their peak of success, or it would finally bring the resurgence of the Polish squad.
de_Mirage should on paper - at least in 2015 - have favoured VP as it has always been one of their strongest maps. Would you believe that dignitas could totally shred them on this map twice? Similar to the first match of fnatic vs. G2, VP only acquired 5 rounds, a shameful performance, another poor showing. It was Dignitas who was clearly dominating both halves, as the Polish team's greatest achievement was stringing together two consecutive round wins.
de_Overpass again started off poorly for Virtus.Pro, as Dignitas took over the first round with only 4 HP left on k0nfig. The following rounds were then taken over as usual by the Danes, but the subsequent match started to go back and forth. In the second half, Dignitas got a huge round lead based off of the second pistol round, but eventually Virtus.Pro, who have seemingly woken up, managed to close the gap at 14-14. Unfortunately, they were unable to go any further, as Dignitas went away with the match 16-14.
