Evil Geniuses advance to Group A's winners' match over AVANGAR to open ECS Season 8 Finals

The opening affair of ECS Season 8 Finals saw Evil Geniuses move on to Group A's winners' match after defeating AVANGAR 16-10 on Dust2.

With both teams having gone out in the quarter-finals at CS:GO Asia Championships just last week, it was a battle of redemption between Evil Geniuses and AVANGAR, who opened the finals and Group A in a Dust2 affair.

It also marked the first notable offline match on the new settings following the latest update, which quickly became apparent at the beginning of the match, when the North American side won the pistol round as CT and opted for three FAMASes in the second, building up the bank with a smooth sailing to a 4-0 lead.

The Kazakhstani squad replied with one but weren't able to build on that, focusing on the B bombsite without much success from there on, as only one out of four attacks towards that side of the map made a mark while Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's men reached double digits.

Up against the ropes, AVANGAR started turning things around as they found a couple of rounds at the end of the half for a total of five and continued to close the gap after switching sides, winning the pistol round in a retake and surviving the forcebuy attempt from their adversaries.

Their efforts were all for naught, in the end, as gunrounds were in the hands of Evil Geniuses, who kicked off a successful stretch with a couple of quick strategies while Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte and stanislaw won a 2v4 on B. They only conceded one more round from that point on, securing a place in Group A's winners match at 16-10.

The North American team will play again later on Thursday for a spot in the semi-finals against the winner of Liquid and Ninjas in Pyjamas.