Monte survive Rooster in Group B lower bracket

The Ukrainian-majority roster came back from an 8-16 hounding on Nuke with 16-10 wins on Anubis and Mirage to prevent the upset.

Monte surprised a scare by Rooster in the ESL Pro League Season 18 Group B lower bracket to earn their first win of the tournament. The Ukrainian-majority roster were handed a lopsided defeat on Nuke (8-16), but rebounded with victories on Anubis (16-10) and Mirage (16-10) to get the job done and send the Australians to the last chance stage.

Monte will undoubtedly be disappointed with their performance despite coming out with a win under their belts. Volodymyr "⁠Woro2k⁠" Veletniuk said in an interview with HLTV on Group B's media day that he thinks the team is already beyond the level they showed with Mohammad "⁠BOROS⁠" Malhas on their books, but such a labored win over a team many expected them to blitz past will likely go some way as to cast doubt on whether the side is genuinely up to the same standard.

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Rooster, by contrast, made the trip to Malta as the lowest-ranked team in the entire tournament at No. 105 on the world ranking, but punched way above their weight to make Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev and company sweat in the series. The Australians, now down in the do-or-die last chance stage, will play the loser of MOUZ vs. Evil Geniuses on Saturday for a chance to stay alive in Malta.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
09/09/2023	Rooster 12:30 Evil Geniuses	Match

The series began on the Australians' pick of Nuke, and the two teams were mostly inseparable for much of the opening half, with Rooster narrowly leading by one round at the end of their T-side effort on Cedar Creek. It was only when the Oceanian visitors moved to the CT-side that their prowess on the map became apparent. The quintet conceded just one round on their defense, winning eight of their own to convert their pick, 16-8, and send the series to Monte's choice of Anubis.

There, Monte made some headway in equalizing the series early on. Sergiy "⁠DemQQ⁠" Demchenko and Woro2k combined for 29 kills and both posted 100+ ADR performances to gift their team an 8-7 lead at halftime. The Ukrainian-majority roster went one step further once on the more favored T-side; they notably brushed aside Rooster's pistol round win with a dominant seven-round spree of their own to reach map point, going on to close things out, 16-10, a short time later.

Mirage, the decider, featured some moments of "Looney Tunes Counter-Strike," as coined by Henry "⁠HenryG⁠" Greer. Monte were the stronger team and subsequently went into the break with a three-round cushion, but it could have been an entirely different scoreline, with each team fumbling rounds and making questionable decisions at times.

Nonetheless, the BLAST.tv Paris Major quarter-finalists reached their usual level once on the CT-side, conceding just four rounds — three of which came as a result of the Australians' pistol round victory — before closing things out, 16-10.