FURIA and 100 Thieves go 1-0 in Group B of second ESL Pro League Americas group stage

FURIA and 100 Thieves have scored decisive victories over Isurus and eUnited, respectively, to kick off Group B of the second ESL Pro League Season 10 Americas group stage.

Following ATK's qualification to the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals from Group A, FURIA, 100 Thieves, Isurus, and eUnited began a clash in Group B for the last spot at the LAN finals on offer for the Americas. The group was already considered the more stacked of the two in the second group stage as a result of containing FURIA and 100 Thieves, a skewed balance that was only tipped further out of favour after Complexity were unable to play in Group A of stage two with their new players.

FURIA's group in the first stage was the only one to end in a three-way tie. Despite beating MIBR, a three-map series loss to Envy left Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan's side to fight through the second stage as their only hopes of securing a spot at the LAN finals in Odense due to a map difference tiebreaker allowing their Brazilian countrymen to top the group.

FURIA went up against Isurus in their opening matchup, making short work of the Argentinians in a two-map series. Although they started their pick of Overpass with four rounds on the offense, Isurus' lead quickly dwindled as FURIA won eleven rounds in a row to close out the half, led by a 19-3 K-D from Yuri "⁠yuurih⁠" Santos. FURIA further extended their spree with another five following the side swap, swiftly closing out the map 16-4.

Another five rounds from FURIA had arT and company at a 21-round winning spree before they were finally halted, with Isurus beginning to battle back and notch six rounds at the end of their defensive effort on Nuke. Despite yuurih considerably cooling off from his first map performance, solid showings from Vinicius "⁠VINI⁠" Figueiredo, arT, and Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato left FURIA quickly running away with the map following the side swap, allowing the team to cruise to a 16-8 finish.

eUnited fared no better against 100 Thieves in the following matchup, winning the first pistol round on Dust2 before immediately finding themselves reset by Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward and company. From there, 100 Thieves remained in firm control of the half, running up a 12-3 lead before eventually closing out the map 16-8.

100 Thieves remained strong as their own pick of Mirage got underway, taking a 5-1 lead at the onset. eUnited were able to improve on their Dust2 performance as they won four in response, but Sean "⁠Gratisfaction⁠" Kaiwai ensured his team had firm control at the end of the half for a 10-5 scoreline. A pistol win and ensuing victory over 100 Thieves' force-buy put eUnited in position to begin a comeback effort, but four defensive frags from Jay "⁠Liazz⁠" Tregillgas on an eco round turned the tides in favour of his side. From there, the Australians locked down the defense, winning five more rounds to take a 16-7 win.