ESL Pro League S9 group C day 2 recap; G2 through to finals

Day two of ESL Pro League Season 9 group C in Europe and North America has come to its conclusion, most notably with G2 already securing a spot at the finals after upsetting Natus Vincere.

After taking down fnatic on day one, G2 looked to cause another upset as they took on Natus Vincere on day two. Picking Nuke to start the series, the French got off to a slow start, with Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko & co. claiming a 5-1 lead as CT to take control of the first half, which ended at 10-5 in their favor. When the sides switched, the two teams went back and forth and Na`Vi claimed their 13th round, but G2 bolstered their defense and finished off the opening map with an 8-1 run for a 16-14 win.

Train followed with Na`Vi taking a stand on the Terrorist side to start things off, leading 6-2 despite losing the initial pistol round. The Frenchmen grabbed the next three rounds but still found themselves trailing 6-9 at halftime. G2 were able to equalize the scoreline at the beginning of the second half, but ultimately Natus Vincere's defense was too strong to handle, as Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's side only let go of one more round.

The deciding Overpass saw G2 fly off the starting line with an 11-round streak on the CT side, with Na`Vi only catching on at the end of the half with three rounds. Although they mounted a comeback attempt with a 6-1 run at the beginning of the second half, G2 found their way to the last three rounds to pick up their second victory in the round robin.

The second match of day two between fnatic and Windigo began on Train, where neither team could gain control of the map in a streaky first half that saw the Swedes come out just ahead at 8-7 as CT. Once fnatic were on the offense, however, they didn't let the Bulgarians string rounds together and controlled the opening map until they secured a 16-10 win.

Next up was Mirage, which began with a tightly-contested first half that once again ended at 8-7 for the CTs, where Windigo started. The two teams continued to trade blows and the second map reached late stages with fnatic up 13-12, but Georgi "⁠SHiPZ⁠" Grigorov & co. managed to equalize the series with a four-round streak.

It came down to Nuke, where fnatic put together a strong hold on the defense, leading 12-3 in spite of a pistol round loss. Windigo managed quite a good CT side in return, but it wasn't good enough in the end, as fnatic found their way to the much-needed four rounds to close out the series at 16-12, 2-1.

With this result coming through, Windigo are already confirmed last in the group as they lost to both fnatic and Natus Vincere, while G2 have come out on top to make it to the finals ahead of their last match against the Bulgarian side.

In the North American side of things, MIBR fought for survival following their day one loss to Luminosity, going up against Envy on the second day.

The first map was Cache, Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis's team's pick. After the two teams went 4-4 early on, the Brazilians pulled away on the defense, claiming a 9-6 lead before going over. Envy fought back at the beginning of the second half, managing an 8-1 run to claim 14 rounds, but they couldn't finish off their opponents, who replied with six rounds in a row to survive the scare.

When it came to Train, MIBR were in the driving seat from the get-go, with an 11-1 start on the T side seeing them finish strong with a 16-4, 2-0 win to put their first win on the board.

Cloud9 were pitted against Luminosity in the second series to find out which team would take the lead in the group with two wins in a row.

The opening Dust2 began with the two teams trading blows until it was 5-5, when a couple of successful retakes ended with Cloud9 leading 9-6 in the first half. Luminosity brought it back to 11-12 when the sides switched, but Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim's team finished strong with four in a row for a 1-0 lead in the series.

On Inferno, the Brazilian side looked to equalize the series and claimed a 4-1 lead as CT, but they couldn't turn it into a good half, with Cloud9 grabbing a close 8-7 scoreline, in the end. The match looked all but over when it was 13-8 in favor of the American team, but a great closing run saw Luminosity equalize the series at 16-14.

Mirage was left to decide with Cloud9 taking point at 4-1, but a good offense helped Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes's team gain control and find a way to a 9-6 half. However, William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba & co. replied with an even better T side, with a 7-0 run at the beginning putting them in a favorable position to close out the series successfully. Despite Luminosity's efforts, Cloud9 ran out victors at 16-12, 2-1, securing a 2-0 record in the round robin.