Wrapping up the second day’s play for Pro League 17’s penultimate group
Another day of CSGO has come and passed, and unlike the second days of other groups, this one was pretty straightforward barring one game, which went all three maps. A couple of teams made it through to the Playoffs — although their seeding will be determined by a match between them in a couple of days — while two were demoted to the Lower Bracket. If you were unable to watch the matches while the action was live, we’ve got recaps to get you up to speed on all the developments in a little over a few minutes.
ESL Pro League Season 17 Group C Day 2 Matches
The day began with Rooster taking on paiN Gaming in the Mid Bracket, with OG playing Team against Vitality afterwards. Later, FaZe Clan went up against Ninjas in Pyjamas, while 00 Nation got busy with Grayhound Gaming.
Rooster vs paiN Gaming
Following their disastrous first day against FaZe, Rooster certainly looked like they’d be the whipping boys of the group. There were small flashes of brilliance, but those flashes were few and far between, and FaZe looked like they breezed through the games without any real hardships. paiN on the other hand gave NIP a great fight, but there’s a massive difference between the current weak NIP and the extremely dangerous FaZe, and despite the ranking difference between the two teams, anything was possible.
Rooster picked Anubis, and despite a very poor start to their attacking half, they managed to come back strong with a 7-round streak to win the half 8-7. However, the T-sided map showed its colors once more, and paiN came back strong in the second half to destroy the Aussies and finish the game 16-11. Romeu “zevy” Rocco pulled off a masterclass performance, but we would be remiss not to mention the incredible effort from Akram “ADK” Smida, who pulled off some incredible clutches and was second on the score sheet.
Unlike Anubis, paiN’s pick Nuke would not be a close game by any stretch of the imagination. The Brazilians all but scalped their opponents on the T-side, picking up a brutal 12 rounds with 11 of them being total eliminations before the bomb could even explode. Once switched, they made short work of whatever hopes and morale the youngsters had, winning the game 16-4 and the series 2-0. zevy was excellent once again, but the map belonged to Felipe “skullz” Medeiros, who was fantastic.
OG vs Team Vitality
Following a relatively weak showing against their Brazilian opponents in the first game of Day 1, OG had clapped back hard to put their foes in their place and seal the series 2-0. Up against defending Pro League champions Vitality, however, they’d have to come up with something a lot more solid to pass. Vitality themselves had made short work of Grayhound, but given the Aussie team’s pedigree, that wasn’t really a surprise. OG would be a hard fight for them, but they looked ready.
OG’s pick of Anubis seemed like a good ploy to perhaps throw Vitality off after the latter hadn’t been seen playing that map too many times, but the French side managed to claim 10 rounds on the defense to completely deflate an already low-morale OG. Things didn’t improve once the sides were switched, with OG not being able to take a single CT-side round and getting hammered 16-5. At this point, it’s no surprise that Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut had the best stats in the game.
On to Vitality’s pick Vertigo, OG’s CT-side was once again porous as they let their opponents get as many as 9 rounds on the attack. Vitality were a little loose in the middle rounds of their own CT-side, letting OG score 3 attacking rounds, but closed the game out soon after at the score of 16-9 to proceed to the Upper Bracket Final. Once again, ZywOo was at the top of almost every kind of list, but surprisingly, Abdulkhalik “degster” Gasanov had the most AWP kills.
FaZe Clan vs Ninjas in Pyjamas
FaZe’s dominant days might be in the recent past, but there are still spells in their gameplay that makes it seem as though they never went away. There’s no doubt that the team is still extremely powerful, and their showing against the Oceania minnows was but a slice of their true power. NIP have been struggling for a long time, but the twin victories against paiN Gaming would at least give them some confidence going into this matchup, which is something the team desperately needs right now.
On NIP’s pick Overpass, the Ninjas could only muster a weak 3-round haul on the attack, struggling to find openings in FaZe’s ironclad defense and only sporadically making it through. They did better after the swap, picking up 6 of the first 7 rounds and threatening to turn the game around, but FaZe quickly shut their hopes down with a 3-round streak that saw them close the map 16-9. Almost everyone on their team played well, but props to Robin “ropz” Kool for coming up big with 27 kills.
If things were that bad on NIP’s map, one can only imagine how it went on FaZe’s hunting ground Ancient. NIP actually started their CT-side by winning the pistol as well as the following round, but FaZe immediately took over and just never removed their foot off the pedal as they raced to a 12-round T-side half before ending the game 16-3 as well as the series. ropz, Helvijs “broky” Saukants and Håvard “rain” Nygaard were all brilliant, with even team leader Finn “karrigan” Andersen stepping up to do some major damage.
00 Nation vs Grayhound Gaming
It’s always a good feeling to see a seemingly washed-out great of the game popping off à la their prime, and 00 Nation’s best player so far has been their talismanic, mythical leader. They may have been crushed by OG in that second game, but they did show considerable promise in the game before. Grayhound on the other hand had failed to show almost any such glimpses in their first day, and would be eager to give the Brazilians — and indeed the world — a taste of Aussie Counter-Strike.
Grayhound began their map Mirage slow, but quickly powered up with 6 rounds on the trot as they raced to 8-3, finishing the half 10-5. The first three rounds on the CT-side gave them a 13-5 lead, but that’s where things fell apart. The Samba boys struck back, and struck back big as they destroyed Grayhound on their own attack, taking 11 of the last 12 rounds of regulation play to win the game 16-14. Marcelo “coldzera” David rolled back the years with a superb turn, while Eduardo “dumau” Wolkmer wasn’t far behind with some great rounds.
Next up for 00 Nation’s Ancient, and after a strong start by Grayhound, the Brazilians took over for a massive 10-round streak before conceding the last one in the half. It looked as though it was all over for the Aussies, but they were incisive in their second half, picking up 11 of the first 13 to put an end to the carnival and win the match 16-12. Alistair “aliStair” Johnston was instrumental for the underdogs, while Declan “Vexite” Portelli showed skill and composure beyond his years.
Finally, it all came down to Inferno as it has countless times before in pro Counter-Strike. Starting on the T-side, 00 Nation were off to a good start only to be countered hard by Grayhound, who managed a decent 9-6 CT-side half. It was a hard-fought second half, with both teams vying for control and both having patches of dominance, but in the end it was Grayhound who came out on top, winning the match 16-12 and the series 2-1. This time Vexite topped the charts, but 00 Nation’s Lucas “nqz” Soares also did brilliantly.
Join us again tomorrow for a recap of the next day, and stick with us for news and content on all things CSGO.
