Upsets continue in the Elisa Masters Group B opening round

30-11-2023 14:57

MOUZ and Complexity, two top-five teams in the world, will play a group-stage elimination match in Finland.

Apeks kicked off Group B with an upset against MOUZ

Apeks and FURIA have punched their tickets to the Elisa Masters Espoo Group B winners' match, where they will face off for a spot in the playoffs.

The squad led by Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski posted a big upset to start off the day by taking out the CS Asia Championships finalists, MOUZ, in a double OT nailbiter.

Complexity, who have been showing plenty of promise since Counter-Strike 2 took over, faltered as the other favorites in the Group B opening round and were knocked down to the lower bracket by FURIA 8-13.

These results come after HAVU, the tournament's lowest-seeded team, punched their ticket to the playoffs in Group A during the tournament's opening day.

Date	Matches
Elisa Masters Espoo 2023
30/11/2023	MOUZ Finished 16:19 Apeks	Match
30/11/2023	Complexity Finished 8:13 FURIA	Match

The match between MOUZ and Apeks was a close affair from the start, although David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský and company managed to pull ahead with a 2vs4 clutch to go up 7-5 at the half. A triple by Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás in the second pistol round then increased their lead.

Apeks came back from five match points down, three in regulation and two in overtime, to overcome the tournament's top seed and throw Group B in a spiral.

The Americas derby between Complexity and FURIA started off with the North Americans controlling the pace on Ancient's T side, although the Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo-led squad fought back to bring it within four before the half.

Complexity then completely crumbled on the defense, even losing a crucial 5vs2 to allow match point, 8-12, before folding in the following round

Up next are the winners' and elimination matches, which will be best-of-three series. Notably, the expected MOUZ vs. Complexity bout will happen, but unexpectedly it will happen in the lower bracket and one of the teams will be going home at the end of the day. The winner of Apeks vs. FURIA, on the other hand, will punch their ticket to the playoffs.