We’re underway in the ESL Pro League S20 Playoffs, as all the teams remaining have now punched their tickets to the Quarter-Finals of the event. Some series have been closer than others, and we’re now going to see some of the best CS2 teams in the world go head-to-head with just eight remaining. Check out how the second round of the Playoffs went down ahead!
Spirit make Imperial look easy
Credit: ESLCS on X.
Team Spirit had no problem winning their second match of the ESL Pro League S20 Playoffs, making short work of Imperial in a pretty straightforward 2:0 series. Overtime on the first map was swiftly forgotten, as Spirit romped to a 13:3 win on the second map of Dust2.
As is often the case for Spirit, this was largely the donk and sh1ro show, but it was certainly a better showing from zont1x and magixx than we’ve seen in a while. As good as donk and sh1ro are, its usually the form of the support duo that determines whether Spirit actually go on to win trophies. Beating Imperial was an expected result, but a tougher tie against NAVI now awaits.
Liquid win battle of North America against Complexity
Credit: ESLCS on X.
Liquid vs. Complexity, the battle of North America, proved to be comfortably the least competitive series of the day. Liquid stormed through the Nuke opener 13:2, and Anubis wasn’t much better with a 13:7 scoreline. Truthfully, both scores might even flatter Complexity based on how one-sided it all was.
It was an excellent day for YEKINDAR, who showed shades of his former self throughout this series. Overall though, it’s ultimate who will take the plaudits once again. It’s not often we see an AWPer dominantly take to Tier 1 like this, but he hasn’t looked out of place for a single moment since Liquid took a chance on him. Tomorrow’s match against G2 will be another big test for this lineup, and one we actually expect them to pass.
MIBR reverse-sweep Heroic
Credit: ESLCS on X.
MIBR showed impressive resilience against Heroic, requiring a reverse sweep to get this series over the line. After Heroic won map one, they managed to keep the second competitive, although they ran out of steam as MIBR dominated 13:5 on the Nuke decider. It was a great set of matches, but the South Americans were able to keep the good CS rolling a little longer.
While Danish duo sjuush and TeSeS were present for Heroic, it wasn’t a great day for everyone. AWPer degster is still struggling to live up to the promise of his early signing, which has obviously been affected by him missing several CS2 tournaments for various reasons. Take nothing away from MIBR, though. The trio of insani, exit, and drop put up great numbers, setting up a clash with M80 for a spot in the Semi-Finals of ESL Pro League S20.
Eternal Fire fight through tight series against The MongolZ
Credit: ESLCS on X.
Lastly, national lineups Eternal Fire and The MongolZ traded blows in another close 2:1 series. This time, it was Turkish roster Eternal Fire who came up trumps, although all three maps could have easily gone either way.
Considering just how on a knife’s edge this series was, The MongolZ will be disappointing they couldn’t find that extra 5% to get the job done here. While Senzu showed up massively, his teammates like 910 and Techno struggled for impact. Eternal Fire looked to XANTARES to be the hero throughout this series, finishing 65:44 across all three maps.
We now look forward to the Quarter-Finals of ESL Pro League S20, which look like this:
- Vitality vs. Eternal Fire
- M80 vs. MIBR
- G2 vs. Team Liquid
- Spirit vs. NAVI
