Fewer games, but plenty of entertainment nevertheless.

The third day of matches in Group B of ESL Pro League’s 17th season had half the matches of the day before, but both of those battles were hard-fought despite the disparity in the rankings of the teams involved. The first elimination matches will take place on Day 4, so if you weren’t able to watch Day 3’s games, here’s what you need to know about them.

ESL Pro League Season 17 Group B Day 3 Matches

The day’s play began with a struggling FURIA going up against a defiant, resurgent Movistar Riders. Later on, BIG took on SAW in what would be a much less one-sided match than one would have expected the two to have.

FURIA vs Movistar Riders 

Following their unceremonious defeat to MOUZ, FURIA were determined to move forward and secure qualification to the Playoffs. On the other hand, Riders had been incredible in their game against Complexity, and were in high spirits heading into their clash with the Brazilians. They were still unquestionably the underdogs, but they had a decent chance to create an upset — especially given their opponents’ shattered morale.

Starting things off on Riders’ pick Inferno, the Spanish side dominated on the T-side, picking up a whopping 10 rounds and leaving FURIA hurting. Once the sides were switched, however, it was the Brazilians’ turn to have an impressive attack as they prevented their opponents from getting more than 3 rounds while reaching their goal for a 16-13 win. The in-form Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato continued his dominance, Antonio “Martinez” Martinez Sánchez’s commendable efforts should also be mentioned.

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On to Riders’ pick Anubis, they once again proved their attacking prowess with a decent 9 rounds as Terrorists. This time around, they got to 15 first, but were unable to prevent their opponents from doing the same as the game went into Overtime. It took two rounds of overtime to separate the teams, but in the end it was Riders who came out on top 22-20. KSCERATO was once again at the top, and supported well by Yuri “yuurih” Boian, but Alejandro ”mopoz” Fernández-Quejo Cano’s performance had more impact. 

Riders once again proved their worth on the T-side as they put up 7 rounds on the attack on the decider Nuke, but FURIA were done playing around. The South Americans massacred Riders’ sloppy defense and took 8 of the first 9 rounds to bring the match to a swift 16-8 close, clinching the series. Once again it was yuurih who stepped up for FURIA, this time supported by Rafael “saffee” Costa.

BIG vs SAW

Much like FURIA, BIG were probably heartbroken after their narrow defeat to Heroic, and wouldn’t want to be taken out by a surprisingly impressive SAW. The Portuguese side had subverted expectations to send Imperial into the Lower Bracket, and were on a high similar to that of Movistar Riders. BIG are also known for losing to smaller teams out of the blue, so that was definitely on SAW’s mind when they went up against the Germans.

SAW may have picked Anubis, but it was BIG who showed them how to play the map with a ridiculous 13 rounds on the attack. To the Portuguese team’s credit, they also put up good numbers on the attack, but the margin for error was just too low, and they lost the game 16-11 with Nils ”k1to” Gruhne and Josef ”faveN” Baumann starring for the Germans.

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Moving on to BIG’s choice of Overpass, the Germans struggled a little on the T-side initially, but managed to make it a decent 8-7 half in the long run. SAW tried hard and got their opponents sweating, but in the end it wasn’t enough as BIG managed to close the game 16-14 and win the series 2-0. BIG newcomer Marcel “hyped” Köhn and SAW youngster Michel “ewjerkz” Magalhães had excellent turns on their respective teams, both mounting superb performances that defied their age and experience. 

We’ll be back tomorrow with another recap of the next day, so stay tuned and read our other CSGO content in the meantime.