After a explosive start in week one, the competition continues to heat up, as we start to see the storylines evolve. We had upsets in the opening week, but did that continue in week 2? Let's break it down.
Europe
Our opener for the week saw NAVI Javelins clashing with Angels, certainly a difficult match-up for Angels on paper, as NAVI are easily the group favourite. Angels on the other hand are an unknown entity on their first ESL Impact campaign. So how did it pan out for our underdogs? Well, quite spectacularly!
Starting out on the pick of Angels, Anubis, they got off to a flying start, wracking up a 11-4 lead on the T side, with great showings from meo and Margo. Vicu was the only NAVI player finding positive impact, until the sides switched. If you weren't already thinking Anubis was T sided, the Javelins certainly confirmed it, conceding just two rounds in their 12 round comeback, again heralded by vicu. Moving to Nuke, it felt like a shoe-in for the favourites, as we've often praised their prowess on their home map. But as G2 showed us, NAVI are not invincible, finding themselves down 10-14 in the late stages. However, Angelka delivered play after play to push NAVI to 15, but Angels were able to get the final round needed for overtime. Once there, it was anyone's game, with Angels finding map point first and NAVI fighting back for double OT. Finally, the Javelins hit their stride, and took the series 2-0. Despite the result, it was an amazing showing from the Angels who will definitely be a team to keep an eye on as the season progresses.
It was a similar affair between NIP and Aces, who also kicked off on Anubis, with NIP looking comfortably in control for most of the map - helped by a lovely pistol ace from Qiyarah. NIP's pick of Inferno was a far more back and forth affair, with both teams having storming T sides, picking up 11 rounds a piece and forcing overtime. Despite amazing individual showings from MajmooNz, Missy, and Potya, NIP were able to pick up one CT round which proved enough as they completed a flawless T side to take the series.
It was unfortunately not so contested between 9 Pandas Fearless and Flames Shieldmaidens, with the former having no issues quelling the flames on Inferno in a quick 16-3, and while Nuke was much closer at the half, Ksu and co proved immovable on the defence.
Thursday's big game was between BIG EQUIPA and Astralis, two teams that are no stranger to each other, given they shared a group in Season 2. This time around both teams have made a roster change, with josi joining BIG, and ManeschijnX amongst the stars of Astralis. We were blessed with another Anubis to open, courtesy of BIG, who looked very at home on the new map. Zana had no issue finding impact with her AWP on the attack, while D7 was indomitable on the defence. From Astralis, Joanana had some highlights to keep Astralis in it, but ultimately it wasn't enough. Over to Ancient, Astralis were always going to struggle on the attack against a warmed up BIG, and you better believe in was the danger duo D7 and Zana once again delivering. Outside of the pistol and conversion it was a quiet T half from Astralis, with a sole gun round led by ManeschijnX and kezziwow their only addition to the half. There simply wasn't enough to work with going into the defence, and BIG EQUIPA were able to close out with ease.
The week of 2-0s continued in the final two matches for the region. G2 Oya looked invigorated against Flames Shieldmaidens, and it was fantastic to see the two veterans of zAAz and juliano leading the charge in both 16-9 map wins. Things were a bit closer between 9 Pandas Fearless and GUILD, though again it was the Pandas to prevail, putting on a powerful Mirage offensive, and a brick wall to deny GUILD on Vertigo.
North America
The first match of NA saw EG Gold and Factor Ruby battle it out in Group B, and after their first week loss to Detonate, it was a chance for EG to bounce back as group favourites. EG picked into Ancient, and though they lost the opening two rounds, with guns in the mix they bucked the trend with a strong T side, picking up 8 rounds off the back of high impact fragging from IGL M1lky. Pistol and follow up once again went the way of Factor Ruby, but on the defence it was fresh EU-import (and 100ms warrior!) 7licious who shone, locking Factor Ruby out for the rest of the map. Netting EG a comfortable 16-10 win.
Anubis came into the fold for map 2, a map that is quickly becoming a favourite of many teams at ESL Impact! EG Gold opted to chose the T side, a common trend now. They met some resistance, particularly from Factor Ruby's AWPer katalyyst who continued her fine form from Ancient, posting a 1.43 rating on the defence. Unfortunately, this was not enough, and EG were able to find 9 rounds on their attack. On the swap, momentum was with EG who were led to victory off a fantastic haul from their sniper PiggyKiki to take the series 2-0 and pick up their first win of the season.
Meanwhile, byte and Saints had a back and forth affair in their best of 3 on the community stream. Much like EG, byte's foray into Ancient saw them net 8 rounds on the attack, setting them up for a solid defensive half - with bMAX and sunnypp putting the numbers in with over 100 ADR each. Saints looked much more comfortable on Overpass where their defence was immovable, helped largely by sckrafft, and by the time Vertigo rolled around all the fight was out of byte and they collapsed before Saints.
The most exciting game of the week had to be that between CLG Red and Shimmer. The NA juggernauts came in swinging on Shimmer's pick of Mirage, with every element firing off for the faves. A 16-6 victory suggested another 2-0 for CLG was on the cards - after all, they've never dropped a map to an NA team since before ESL Impact began! Surely, that wouldn't change today?
Oh, you know it did! CLG Red's pick of Overpass, their most played map in the last year and won their hold a nearly spotless record on, turned out to be quite the affair! And 11 round T side half had them feeling comfortable, they then picked up the pistol and second round on CT side to sit 13-4 up and in a clear position to close out the series. But Shimmer had something to say about that! Their core of empathy, Lx, and vanessa came alive on the offensive side to post an almost flawless run - dropping a single further round on their way to 16. Making themselves the first NA team to take a map off CLG Red in literal years!
Unfortunately, that victory must have taken a lot of gas, because they were running on empty on the decider of Inferno, where CLG Red won the knife and proceeded to brick wall their opponents, with Kaoday in particular looking fantastic on the AWP. The series win may have gone to CLG Red, but Shimmer have shown that the armour can crack, and the floor of NA continues to rise.
Detonate SparX are certainly one of those teams on the rise, coming off their victory over EG Gold in the first week, they continued their run against Starfish. And well, it's fair to say they blew them out of the water. Two 16-4 maps to net the win, the only signs of resistance from the Starfish were from kichu who managed to go positive despite the devastating loss. This does drum up excitement for the Detonate squad, who look to potentially usurp EG Gold as the number 2 in the region if they continue this run of form, though it is early days.
South America
Down South it started with a clash of nations as the Argentinians (and one Uruguayan) of LRV went up against the Brazilians of ENDGAME. Beginning on Nuke, where ENDGAME wracked up a solid 10 round defensive half, but couldn't repeat the trick on the attack, where LRV led by valulu and lulitenz held strong to find a 15-13 lead, before ENDGAME got one back to push the full 30. The final round of regulation was a brawl after ENDGAME got a B site plant without any causalities, setting up for a 5v5 retake to decide OT or victory, where LRV prevailed. Special shout to Sofiaxyz who 30 bombed on the losing side 🥲
ENDGAME's home turf of Vertigo proved to be too much for LRV to handle and a quick 16-8 ensued, but on Anubis LRV stepped up. Though they only found 6 rounds on CT, their T side was flawless after losing the first two (with bomb plants found), and again lulitenz, alongside Luulu4k stepped up (seriously a team of lulu tongue twisters) to secure the win and the series. The first for LRV at ESL Impact!
At the same time, FURIA continued their run of dominance, conceding even less to W7M than they had to MIBR the week prior. The map pick of W7M, Ancient, backfired spectacularly as new(ish) addition bokor ran riot, and Mirage was not much different, though Mari showed she had taken notes from her time on FURIA with an impressive CT side, it was not enough to stop izaa and GaBi running them down 2-0.
The 2-0 woes continued as ENDGAME played their second game of the week, this time against B4 Demons, who have been putting together a strong argument to be considered the top dog of the region. They certainly looked the part in this series, barely breaking a sweat and conceding just 10 rounds across both maps.
The final fight of the week pitched MIBR against Parabellum, with both teams looking to recover from losses dealt to them in the opening week. Parabellum picked into Nuke, which proved to be an issue, as MIBR refused to yield on their CT side and posted a 13 round half. There was sadly no way back for Parabellum, despite finding the CT pistol. Fantastic form from fresh faced fragger ferzy found a fast finish for favourites MIBR. Inferno proved more hotly contested, at least for the first half, but again MIBR were unyielding, and the ferzy / chjna double trouble combo had no issue closing out the series for MIBR.
Standings
With the first two weeks down, the picture for this season begins to paint itself. While many of the obvious favourites start strong, some early stumblings have set us up for an exciting few weeks ahead!
