Apeks, ECSTATIC enter 2-1 pool in Bucharest

Monte are one match away from elimination in the RMR after a disappointing showing on Anubis.

Apeks and ECSTATIC have moved into the 2-1 pool in the Europe RMR B tournament following victories over Monte and OG, respectively. The Ukrainian-majority team, who had brought Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev back into the fold ahead of the match, is now staring elimination in the face in the 1-2 pool.

Apeks came out with fire in their bellies and romped to a dominant 6-0 lead off the back of some impressive gun rounds by Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson, forcing Monte coach Sergey "⁠lmbt⁠" Bezhanov to call a timeout to halt their opponents’ momentum.

Monte then got their first round on the board on a shoddy buy, eventually turning that into a streak, but their respite didn’t last long. Apeks set a fast pace for the remainder of the half, brute-forcing their way into the bombsites for a 9-3 lead.

Monte found some breathing room after the side swap as they won the opening two rounds with ease. But the landscape of the game changed once Apeks had money to work with. Rather than sit back and soak up information, Ådne "⁠sense⁠" Fredriksen’s troops took the initiative on the CT side, and it paid off massively as they went on a 4-0 run to secure the map.

Meanwhile, OG and ECSTATIC played out an entertaining game on Inferno that went the full distance. The Danish team showed their pistol prowess to build an early lead, but they didn’t have much going on for them for the rest of the half as OG battled back to take a 7-5 lead.

ECSTATIC responded in the second half with a 1v2 clutch from Patrick "⁠Patti⁠" Larsen in the pistol round and rode that momentum to an 11-7 lead. OG dug deep and equalized the score, only to falter in the dying stages.