Envy‘s ring rust showed in Group B’s opener as the North American organisation’s new roster, featuring the transition of Nikola “LEGIJA” Ninić to a playing role and the addition of Thomas “Thomas” Utting, failed to build on a promising series lead after picking up their map selection with a dominant 16-2 scoreline.
The matchup, which was Envy‘s first official match since June, soon flipped in forZe‘s favour as Bogdan “xsepower” Chernikov came alive for his team on Mirage with a colossal 2.17-rated performance, with the Russian side carrying the momentum into Nuke to turn the series around and claim the win.
Envy came flying out of the gates in red-hot fashion on their map pick of Dust2, proving early on that this new team meant business. Spearheaded by Buğra “Calyx” Arkın and Michał “MICHU” Müller, Envy ran riot on the offence with a commanding 13-2 lead, overwhelmingly winning duels across the map. A 16-2 victory swiftly followed as the aforementioned duo posted 2.00 and 1.90 ratings, respectively, to give their team a confident start in the series.
The opening of Mirage was a more contested affair with both teams locking horns in an early back and forth before forZe managed to pull ahead on the T side with a string of rounds. A xsepower 1v2 clutch kept the ball rolling for the Russian squad, who went on to secure a 9-6 halftime advantage. Envy struggled to piece together more than two rounds at a time and began to run out of steam as xsepower continued to display his outrageous AWPing skills on the way to a 16-10 scoreline and 34-10 KDD.
A chaotic first half on Nuke saw the two sides engage in a messy exchange resulting in unusual rounds being traded through eco rounds and clutches, with forZe narrowly edging in front 8-7 at the midway point. An outrageous Scout ace from LEGIJA looked set to put Envy in a favourable position on the offensive side, but forZe hit straight back to extend their lead. The Russian team did not let up moving forward and closed out the map 16-11 to progress to Group B’s upper final, where they will face the winner of BIG vs. MIBR.
Source: https://www.hltv.org/news/30610/forze-defeat-envy-in-flashpoint-2-group-b-opening-match