A new week brings us a new group from ESL Pro League 16.
Where groups A and B offered relatively uneventful beginnings, Group C of this ESL Pro League 16 has already shown plenty of excitement. Unlike the highly straightforward Group B, the third group has already seen 4 teams win and lose a match each, with a couple of upsets and incredible comebacks thrown into the mix.
For those who are as yet unaware, Group B has Astralis, Complexity, ENCE, HEET, Heroic and MOUZ, making it an exciting group with plenty of evenly matched, unpredictable teams.
Group B Day 1 and 2 Results
The third week of play began with MOUZ taking down Heroic 2-0, followed by an incredible comeback from Complexity which saw them edge out Astralis 2-1. The last game was pretty one-sided as ENCE beat HEET comfortably.
The next day, Astralis returned strongly to sweep MOUZ, while COL continued their winning with a 2-0 over HEET. Finally, Heroic put themselves on the board with a 2-0 over ENCE.
How the Group B Table Stands
Complexity, unexpectedly, are ahead of the pack with 6 points — a testament to just how well replacing Paytyn “junior” Johnson with Håkon ”hallzerk” Fjærli is working for them. They’re followed by Astralis, ENCE, Heroic, and MOUZ respectively based on round difference, with only 13 rounds separating first to last. Finally, HEET are yet to win a game, and look significantly weaker than any other team in the group.
ESL Pro League Season 16 Day 1 and Day 2 Recap
Let’s look at the matches themselves with the results out of the way.
Day 1
Things went down to the wire between MOUZ and Heroic on Mirage, with the performance of David ”frozen” Čerňanský taking the German organization over the line 16-14. On Dust 2, however, things went much easier for the MOUZ as newcomer Dorian “xertioN” Berman justified his promotion from their academy with some rock-solid shooting to secure a 16-9 win.
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As they’re ranked 29th on HLTV, most people wouldn’t fancy Complexity’s chances against fourth-ranked Astralis. This series was one of two halves, with the Danes dominating Inferno 16-9 courtesy of Benjamin “blameF” Bremer’s borderline obscene exploits. The same guys also dominated the first half of Nuke, going up 11-6 and later 14-11 before three Overtimes ended in victory for COL despite another starring turn from blameF. On Dust 2, it was Michael ”Grim” Wince and hallzerk’s time to shine as the American outfit won 16-11 to complete the upset.
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There isn’t much to say about the last match of Day 1, with Valdemar “valde” Vangså and Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia leading ENCE to a 16-6 victory over HEET on before they closed the series off 16-11 on Vertigo. Paweł “dycha” Dycha and Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer topped the charts on the second map.
Day 2
Astralis began their second day with an imperious 16-7 victory over MOUZ, spurred on by a monumental effort by Asger “farlig” Jensen. However, Nuke went the entire regulation distance with Astralis coming out on top after being down at half time, with k0nfig showing up with a clutch performance.
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Next up, COL earned their second win of the Group Stage with a relatively easy double over HEET. Justin ”FaNg” Coakley and Grim stood tall for a 16-8 romp on Nuke, and Overpass saw hallzerk undoing the hard work of Aurélien “afro” Drapier to get his team to a 16-12 victory.
In the day’s last match, Heroic stepped up to take a tenacious ENCE down 16-13 on Ancient and 16-10 on Vertigo. René “TeSeS” Madsen was excellent on both maps, and IGL Casper “cadiaN” Møller stepped up on the second to complete the win in straight games.
Join us again in 3 days to discover the final fate of ESL Pro League’s Group C.
