ESL Pro League S9 group D day 2 recap

Astralis and DETONA moved to the top of their ESL Pro League groups after claiming victories in day two.

HellRaisers' kicked off the series against Astralis on Dust2, but didn't have a lot of success on the offensive side of their map pick. The Danes secured the pistol and the followups, Kirill "⁠ANGE1⁠" Karasiow and co. replied in round four, but the rest of the half was one-sided and Astralis claimed a 14-1 lead. Not even a force buy won after a lost pistol could give HellRaisers much of a chance, and Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander's squad closed it out 16-4.

Inferno followed, where HellRaisers bagged a quick 4-0 lead on the CT side, which they kept to the middle of the half (6-2). From that point onward, Astralis' stars Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz and Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif tore through the European mixture's defenses, ending the half with a 9-6 lead. After the switch, they were just as dominant, finishing the game by giving away only one more round, 16-7.

Mirage was the map that started the series between BIG and ex-3DMAX, and the German side started well, 8-1 on the CT side. Bryan "⁠Maka⁠" Canda and Ali "⁠hAdji⁠" Haïnouss then turned around a 2v5 situation on the A bombsite, helping their side get a foothold in the match, and seeing them finish the half only 9-6 down. BIG then added the second pistol to their name and quickly reached map point, 15-7, however, the Frenchmen held them there for quite some time. In the end, Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik's side broke through and secured the map, 16-13.

Dust2 followed, where ex-3DMAX had a respectable start on the CT side, leading 6-3 despite losing the anti-force in round two. The balance of the match switched after that, though, with Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş finding space and proving hard to deal with for his opposition. BIG managed to take the lead before the end of the half, and then held confidently on the CT side to win the map 16-10, 2-0 for the series.

In the Latin America group of ESL Pro League Season 9, Isurus and DETONA met, two teams that secured confident wins in their opening matches. The Brazilian side picked Mirage to kick things off and looked dominant on the offensive side, only allowing Isurus to pick up sporadic rounds. Despite still managing a 6-9 half, the Argentinians didn't look like they had a chance in the match as DETONA dominated the early part of the second half as well, reaching map point (15-8). That is when Isurus rallied to bring it back to 14-15, but they couldn't win the final round to force overtime after all, and DETONA took map one.

On Dust2, Isurus was the squad dictating the pace of the game, amassing a big lead on the CT side as Nicolás "⁠Noktse⁠" Dávila and Roberto "⁠reversive⁠" Themtham put up big performances. DETONA's five round-winning-streak at the start of the second half gave them a way back into the game, but Isurus still managed to close out on their big lead, 16-12. Inferno was the decider, and it was the first map that wasn't strongly contested by both teams. DETONA took the early lead, 8-1, and the Argentinian side simply couldn't get back in the game, seeing them go down 16-8, 2-1 for the series.

Denial and INFINITY were looking for their first win at ESL Pro League, and a close match folowed. On Mirage, INFINITY broke into the lead following a strong T side and a CT pistol win (11-6), but Denial's strong T side saw them force overtime. INFINITY still managed to close it out in the added rounds, moving on to Inferno, where they once again earned a 9-6 lead after the first half. However, their Terrorist side was bleak, allowing Denial to come back and win 16-14.

It all came down to Train, where Denial won the Terrorist pistol round, but lost the followup, allowing INFINITY to start building an economy on the CT side. Despite Juanes "⁠sickLy⁠" Valencia's best attempts, Denial couldn't break through the defenses consistently, only managing three rounds before the half ended. INFINITY then added a 3-0 start on the Terrorist side to their name and quickly tied together the match, 16-4, to secure the series win.