Weekly Re-Peek: Week 4

We are deep into the thick of the regional group stages, with week 4 coming to a close and a few teams in each region starting to break away from the pack - while a few fall behind. This week we'll be focusing on all the highlights of the week as well as what is to come. Many of the matches are now must wins for quite a few teams, which is going to set us up for a very exciting tail end of the groups!

For the high level overview read on, and of course do check out the recap video 🀠

Europe

All the matches this week are rematches from week 1, as we head into the second cycle of the double round robin format. For some teams this was a chance for redemption, and for others a position to assert their dominance. Two teams did exactly that in Europe this week! 😈

Nigma Galaxy got their fourth straight win of the season, taking down the Ninjas in Pyjamas in a repeat of week 1. In an interesting twist, it was NIP who picked into Vertigo! In their first outing, they managed 7 rounds against the Nigma Galaxy squad, and they certainly showed improvements in the rematch. But after only finding 3 rounds on the T side, it wasn't enough to support their much stronger CT side, and it ended with a 16:10 victory for Nigma Galaxy - and with Kat putting up 31 kills! Inferno was much of the same, but with a much healthier score for the team - jenkon in particular putting on a great show - but Nigma Galaxy ultimately overpowered the Ninjas to take the series.

Mirrored across in Group B, NAVI Javelins repeated their first round success against MostValuablePlayers, and again on the exact same maps! Dust II and Nuke were played out in deja vu fashion, with Liina leading the charge in denying Dust II, securing a solid 16:11 win. Moving to Nuke, and MVP certainly looked ready for revenge after their devastating 16:2 loss in Week 1! Starting off with streak of six rounds on the CT side, they managed to close the half with a 3 round lead going onto the T side. Unfortunately, they would only pick up a single round on the attack, with kr4sy the only consistent force across both sides for MVP, as NAVI Javelins closed the series 2:0.

Two teams had their tournament lives on the line this week - Entropiq Queens and Astralis - with both yet to pick up a win. This week they needed to find their first to stay in contention for playoffs.

For the Entropiq Queens it was a gruelling affair against NOFEAR5. They just about managed to take the opener of Mirage, but it came down to the line, with a 1v1 from pavlla getting them the 16:14 victory. They were unfortunately not able to repeat their Ancient dominance of the first week, and NOFEAR5 fought back to even the series. By the time Overpass came around, the wind had been knocked thoroughly out of the sails of the Queens. Unfortunately, they now sit 0-4 in the group which places playoffs out of reach.

The first week match-up between BIG Equipa and Astralis was incredibly close, and it was clear this time around that Astralis had been putting in the hours. Once again we dived into Ancient, this time Astralis picking the map and looking like a completely different beast. After 10 rounds on the T side, including some incredibly miraculous rounds, it was too easy for kezziwOw and the gang to close the map. Moving into Nuke, a map that BIG Equipa have historically been very strong on, it was clear that the momentum was fully with Astralis. An incredible CT side led by the dynamic AWP of Joanana saw them only drop 2 rounds to the attack of BIG. With simply far too much of a deficit to fight back, even the counter AWPing heroics of Zana were not enough, and Astralis took their first win of the season in a statement victory.

South America

In a testament to the strengthening competition in the ESL Impact circuit, we had yet to see a 16-0 map take place this season... That was, until w7m esports had their rematch with Parabellum! To save face for Parabellum, we need not go into too much detail, other than to say it was a brunakiller masterclass on the first map of Mirage. Vertigo would give Parabellum a leg to stand on, with a good CT side supported by Cara de Banana's AWP, but ultimately they had little to show on the T side, and w7m took a convincing win. This unfortunately puts Parabellum at a 0-4 run in the groups, and denies them a run at playoffs.

It was a similar series being played out between MIBR and INDEPENDENCE in Group B, with the latter also facing down a 0-4 score if they couldn't come up with a win. MIBR look to be in hot form at the moment, and Ancient was a clear display of this, taking a 12:3 half on the CT side, plus the follow up pistol and conversion. Facing down 14:3, INDEPENDENCE were able to stage a good run of rounds to almost find double digits, but LyttleZ was just a little too much to handle. Dust II played out in an even more dominant fashion, with MIBR taking the series 2-0.

We were lucky enough to witness two overtimes in the South America games this week. The first took place between B4 Esports and EndGame, with EndGame's map pick of Vertigo not starting well for them. Down 3:12 at the half as they went into the CT side, a crucial pistol round would be the beginning of an incredible comeback. Powered by n4mie and two critical clutches against map point to force overtime, it looked like EndGame had done enough. But in the end, B4's experience shone through in OT where they closed it out with ease. The second map of Nuke was a one way affair, with goddess putting on a particularly impressive show.

In another exciting overtime brawl, FURIA and Black Dragons decided they needed even more reps against each other, after kicking off the season with a double OT on Dust II. This time around, it was Ancient that went the distance, in a map that saw OLGA and GaBi get 36 and 32 kills respectively, but ultimately saw Black Dragons take the map. This is the first map that a South American team has taken off FURIA in any ESL Impact event! Unfortunately for Black Dragons, it would be the only map they would find against FURIA, with Nuke and the decider of Mirage both going the way of the favourites.

North America

In North America, a team that has dealt many a 16-0 out is CLG Red, who were back against Saints. In a completely different veto from their first outing, it kicked off on Saints' pick of Dust II where CLG Red absolutely went to town. Dropping just one round in the game, it was no issue for uhKelsie who led the charge for the Queens of NA. Moving to Mirage gave Saints new life, as they managed to stage a couple of great sequences of rounds, with lisa and buhnny in particular shining, but it wouldn't be enough to starve off a CLG Red win.

The other Group A match saw Reversal look for redemption against Valkyries, after an incredibly close opener for the season between the two teams. Once again it was a completely different veto, with Reversal opting for Inferno. After a great T side that included 3 separate 1v2 round wins, they kept it close into the second half, with 13:13 the score line after a great run on the defence. However, the big talking point for this map was Galy, who put up 36 kills in regulation to close out the map 16:13 for Valkyries. Dust II started off in a similar fashion, neck and neck until the 19th round, where Valkyries got on a roll on a CT side that could not be stopped. Unfortunately for Reversal, this loss now leaves them at 0-4 and puts playoffs out of reach.

Over in Group B, Hot Flash were facing a similar scenario, with a win required to stay in contention. Their opponent of ECHO came into the week with just a single win too - and that had come in week one, against Hot Flash! With everything to play for, ECHO took us to Overpass first, where a good start on the T side could not eventuate into a lead, and erin and abc of Hot Flash did some of their best work to take the map. ECHO got off to a much better start on Inferno, and going into the second half managed to establish a slight lead with a run of rounds. That would be it however, as erin continued her hot streak, delivering 32 kills and their first series win of the season!

The very last match-up of NA and of the week is a tale as old as time - Evil Geniuses and Please Send Bocks. Both teams sitting as favourites in the group, the EG gang had taken the win in the first week in 2-1 fashion. It started in much the same manner here, with the Bocks again electing for their favoured map of Overpass. This time around, EG were not able to push OT, and the Bocks closed it out 16:13 after a dominant CT side. Moving onto Dust II and EG set the pace early, setting themselves up for a fantastic 11:4 T side half. PSB fought back on their own T side, but EG stood strong and closed it out off the back of a lovely 1v2 from PiggyKiKi. The decider took us to Inferno, where EG continued their momentum for a strong T start, and soon as the sides switched it was too much for the Bocks and EG closed out the series and secured themselves the 4-0 standing.

The TL;DR!

That was plenty to digest, so time to quickly summarise where these results have taken us! Firstly, we now have a team from each group who have locked in a place in the regional playoffs!

  • Nigma Galaxy (Europe Group A)
  • NAVI Javelins (Europe Group B)
  • FURIA (SA Group A)
  • B4 Esports (SA Group B)
  • CLG Red (NA Group A)
  • Evil Geniuses (NA Group B)

These teams likely come as no surprise if you've been following the ESL Impact circuit this year, with all teams mentioned having played at either the Dallas finals of Season 1, or at ESL Impact Valencia (B4 Esports did so under Black Dragons, and Evil Geniuses did so as Please Send Help).

Sadly, this also means that there are teams in each region that can no longer progress to playoffs. Entropiq Queens (Europe), Parabellum Fe and INDEPENDENCE (both SA), and Reversal (NA) all sit at 0-4 which prevents them from being able to surpass the teams in their groups. However, they will still have an important role to play in determining which other teams progress, as well as their seeding into the regional playoffs.

In Europe, all eyes will be on Ninjas in Pyjamas in Group A. If they can successfully and cleanly take down NOFEAR5, they have a real chance of taking that second playoff spot. Inversely, if NOFEAR5 win, they lock it in, regardless of the rest of the group results. On the other side, the NAVI Javelins and Astralis match-up will be one to watch, as Astralis must win to stay in the running. The same applies for MVP in their match against BIG Equipa.

In South America, Black Dragons need to win their match against Parabellum, and also rely on w7m losing theirs against FURIA, while EndGame's fate is firmly in their hands, where a clean win against MIBR would keep them in the picture.

North America is perhaps the most hotly contested, with Group A seeing Valkyries and Saints both sitting 2-2 - and they'll be playing in each other to boot! The pressure is more heavily on Valkyries to win, as their final week match-up will be against CLG Red. In Group B there are still 3 teams in contention, with Please Send Bocks a win ahead of both ECHO and Hot Flash. The latter two both need flawless runs and have to get past EG to do so, so every single match in Group B is going to have a role to play in who goes to the regional playoffs.

And as always, here are all those wonderful games that we have coming up in week 5!