Luminosity, Sharks move on in Berlin

Luminosity and Sharks advanced to the winners' bracket in the Americas Minor group stage following victories against eUnited and Singularity, respectively.

Group B's second opening match between eUnited and Luminosity saw the North American get off to a more-than-convincing start, converting not only their CT pistol round but a further five on top, witnessing a triple kill from Edgar "⁠MarKE⁠" Maldonado in the process.

An ace from João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos marked Luminosity's first round of the half, and apparently reinvigorated the Brazilian squad. The Terrorists went on to gradually knock down their round deficit, bridging the discrepancy to just one at 7-8 come half time.

Upon assuming the defence, Luminosity found themselves in the lead after the second pistol round had gone way. The Brazilian roster was looking to extend their dominance further, but a pistol buy from eUnited temporarily halted their advancement, and tied the scoreboard at nine apiece. The ensuing rounds of the half saw the teams go shoulder-in-shoulder, followed by a convincing dash to glory on the part of the CTs. An AWP triple kill from felps secured map point for Luminosity, and after a B hit fell through for eUnited, the Brazilians walked away with the map at 16-11.

The fourth, and final best-of-one of the day saw Singularity take on Sharks on Nuke, where despite securing a fruitful opening round on the defence, the American squad struggled to sustain momentum past a two-round lead. Having secured their first rifle round, Sharks tasted blood in the water, inspiring the squad to successfully dismantle the defence all the way to a 5-2 lead.

Persisting issues in fending off the Brazilian offense made for a spotty performance on the part of Singularity, who, after sporadically accruing rounds in the latter portion of the half, concluded their defence with a 5-10 score.

The American representatives gave themselves a fighting chance by securing the second half pistol, but rifles in the hands of Sharks threw a spanner in the team's comeback ambitions. Six back-to-back rounds from the defenders meant a 16-6 conclusion to Nuke in favour of the Brazilians.