Evil Geniuses qualify for ESL Pro League Finals; Cloud9 finish last following loss to eUnited

Evil Geniuses secured their second win of ESL Pro League Season 10 Americas by taking down Complexity 2-1, while eUnited emerged victorious in a three-map series over Cloud9.

The battle between Evil Geniuses and Complexity began on Mirage. An early 3-0 lead for Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer's side quickly gave way to a spree of rounds from Evil Geniuses, who took control for a 7-4 scoreline. Although Complexity clawed back for three additional rounds in the half, they were unable to halt the Evil Geniuses onslaught following the side swap as Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte helped power his team to a 16-7 finish.

A similar story unfolded as Evil Geniuses' pick of Nuke got underway, but this time Complexity were able to take seven rounds in a row before Evil Geniuses were able to post their first. Again, Complexity's solid start dwindled as Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's side fought back, reducing the deficit between the two teams to a single round at halftime. A pistol victory allowed Evil Geniuses to momentarily steal away the lead, but resilience from Complexity once they were on rifles had them concede only a single additional round on the road to a 16-10 victory.

Evil Geniuses started the deciding map of Dust2 on the right foot as they took a four-round spree to kick things off, but Complexity swiftly won eight out of the next nine rounds in reply to pull ahead at 8-5. Two rounds to close out the first half put Evil Geniuses inches from a tie game, with a pistol win following the side swap quickly equalizing the score. Now on the offense, Evil Geniuses firmly seized control of the proceedings, dropping only three rounds before closing the series with a 16-11 map win.

A T-side start for eUnited on their pick of Nuke seemed to be of no concern for Anthony "⁠vanity⁠" Malaspina and company early on, seeing the team claim a 5-0 lead to kick off their series against Cloud9. A back-and-forth trade for control was won Damian "⁠daps⁠" Steele's side, who stabilized to lock eUnited out for the remainder of the half to pull ahead 9-6. A pistol win by eUnited gave the team only a brief solace as Cloud9 immediately replied back, giving eUnited no inroads back into the map as a 1vs4 clutch by daps sealed their fate for a 16-7 scoreline.

On Mirage, eUnited got even with Cloud9 as a force-buy in round two made up for a lost pistol, with vanity helping push his team up to a 8-1 start. Cloud9 managed to win four of their own as the half drew to a close, further reducing the deficit with another pistol round win. Another force-buy from eUnited had Cloud9 once again on the back foot, allowing vanity and company up to a 13-6 lead. Cloud9 were able to claw back for another trio of rounds, but the map was too far gone as eUnited took a 16-9 victory to push the series to a deciding map.

Cloud9's fate took a grim turn as Overpass got underway, seeing multi-kill rounds from Austin "⁠Cooper⁠" Abadir and vanity help eUnited take five of the first seven rounds of the map. A quad kill from Kenneth "⁠koosta⁠" Suen gave Cloud9 their third, but a trading of rounds went the way of eUnited as the team pushed up to a 10-4 lead. A fifth round at the end of the half gave Cloud9 a chance to claw back, one which they utilized as their T-side got underway to win six rounds in a row and steal away the lead at 11-10. eUnited were unwilling to concede however, with Cooper and vanity combining to help their side only give up one additional round as they fought back for a 16-12 win. Cooper ended the map with 33 frags to his name,

Evil Geniuses have assured themselves a spot at the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals as they currently boast wins over both Complexity and eUnited, with their final matchup pitting them against a last-place Cloud9. Subsequently, with Cloud9 falling to both eUnited and Complexity, their spot at the bottom of Group B is also confirmed as, regardless of their result against Evil Geniuses in their final match, they would lose the head-to-head decider.

The Group B standings look as follows: