Apeks move past M80 in EPL opener

The European troupe will face Natus Vincere in a fight for a playoff spot.

Apeks have cast M80 down to the lower bracket after emerging victorious from their opening match at ESL Pro League Season 18, edging past the North American side 19-15 on Inferno before running away with victory on their Mirage pick, 16-3.

The win sets Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski's side up against Natus Vincere for a spot in the playoffs, a match that will pit Justinas "⁠jL⁠" Lekavicius against his former teammates.

Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad and Torbjørn "⁠mithR⁠" Nyborg spoke to HLTV before the start of the event and revealed that the Lithuanian's departure left them without a motivator, something which they're attempting to solve with the Danish coach's addition alongside a more collective approach to preparing for matches, which seemed to pay off in this game.

Read more

Apeks prepare to tackle ESL Pro League with a new coach and philosophy

The European combine had a slow start to the series on Inferno, allowing M80 to jump out to an early lead before multi-kills from Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk helped his side stabilize.

The teams ended up neck-and-neck at halftime before Apeks took the lead at the start of the second half, but despite them looking the better side in gun rounds, repeated fumbles to pistols and low buys from M80 gave Marcus "⁠maNkz⁠" Kjeldsen's troops a window back into the map.

That allowed M80 to fight into overtime, but with no more low buys in the cards there, Apeks ran away with the victory by taking four rounds on the trot for a 19-15 win.

M80 ran out of steam on Mirage as Apeks repeatedly ran rampant over the North American side's defenses, conceding just three rounds in the first half before sealing away the series victory, 16-3, to book their spot in the upper semi-final.