HAVU stun GamerLegion to reach Elisa Masters Espoo playoffs

The Finnish team gets out of Group A with the top seed after back-to-back upsets.

HAVU are the first team to lock up a spot in the playoff stage of Elisa Masters Espoo after beating GamerLegion in Group A’s winners’ match. It is the second upset in a row pulled off by the Finnish side, which had made light work of ENCE earlier in the day in a best-of-one game.

Ranked only 127th in the world ahead of the event, HAVU made their intentions clear as they romped to a commanding 10-2 lead on Ancient. GamerLegion, which had defeated fnatic in the first round, strung eight rounds together after the break before HAVU tightened up their defense and secured the map.

The landscape of the game changed completely on Overpass, which began with a 7-0 run by GamerLegion. HAVU then finally found their footing on the map, bringing the deficit to 5-9, but GamerLegion didn’t let the game get out of hand and quickly wrapped things up, with Isak "⁠isak⁠" Fahlén posting a 1.84 rating.

It all came down to Nuke, the same map where HAVU had stunned ENCE. Initially, GamerLegion seemed to have the game under control as they won ten rounds in a row after losing the initial four, but HAVU kept their opponents at bay for the rest of the second half with a water-tight defense, stringing nine rounds together en route to a stunning 13-10 finish.

HAVU will now enjoy a two-day break from action before their semi-final clash on Saturday, while will fight for their tournament lives on Friday against the winner of ENCE vs fnatic.