In the playoffs of ESL Pro League S20, the first round of matches is over and four of the eight teams advanced to the round of 12. The results were a bit surprising but only one of the four matches ended with a major upset.
BIG vs. The MongolZ: 1 – 2
BIG started this match in a very promising way, with a comeback after a poor first half on Ancient (4 – 8). In overtime, the German team won 22 – 19 and made everyone believe in them. But The MongolZ played much better on Nuke and Mirage, winning 11 – 13 and 9 – 13.
The best player on the server was Usukhbayar “910” Banzragch, whose 74 – 52 score was enough to bring victory to his team.
Virtus.pro vs. HEROIC: 0 – 2
VP were expected to be victorious against HEROIC but something went terribly wrong. Petr “fame” Bolyshev had a rough time and finished with a score of 18 – 33. This performance, combined with various mistakes committed by VP, resulted in a one-sided score: 8 – 13 on Ancient, 6 – 13 on Dust II.
FaZe Clan vs. Complexity: 0 – 2
This was the biggest upset of the first playoffs round of ESL Pro League S20. The mighty FaZe Clan couldn’t find their rhythm and eventually lost 10 – 13 on Anubis and 9 – 13 on Dust II.
Both Helvijs “broky” Saukants and Havard “rain” Nygaard struggled against Complexity’s players, ending the match with poor individual scores. Both of them are usually very impactful but this was not their day.
Despite being the best player on the server with a score of 37 – 22, Robin “ropz” Kool was unable to save his team from elimination.
Team Spirit vs. FURIA Esports: 2 – 0
Not that many months ago, Spirit would have completely dismantled FURIA in a best-of-three. But in this particular match, they struggled to win and would have almost certainly lost without Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov’s heroic performance. His 38 – 24 score was the main reason why Spirit were able to win 13 – 9 on Nuke and 13 – 11 on Anubis.
