MIBR and FURIA secure wins in ESL Pro League opening matches

MIBR made short work of Envy with a 2-0 victory to kick off their ESL Pro League Season 10 Americas campaign, while FURIA defeated Swole Patrol with a 2-0 win of their own.

The ESL Pro League Season 10 Americas group stage kicked off in Burbank, California, seeing MIBR take on Envy and Swole Patrol face off against FURIA.

Although Inferno was Envy's map pick, the Brazilian side of MIBR made it look their own as an opening salvo of nine rounds had Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo and company dominating their opposition early on. Double kills from Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis and Bradley "⁠ANDROID⁠" Fodor gave Envy their first inroads on the offense, helping their team to three rounds in the first half, but a second pistol round win following the side swap had MIBR swiftly closing things out with a 16-5 victory.

A similar start to Mirage saw MIBR up 4-0 before Envy began to contest, with the North American roster putting up two rounds before MIBR extended their lead to 8-2. A resurgence towards the latter portions of the half allowed for Envy to further close the deficit to 9-6 before securing a pistol victory following the side swap, giving the team their first lead of the series as they won five rounds straight to narrowly pull ahead 11-9.

Envy didn't remain the front-runner for long however, as FalleN and Vito "⁠kNgV-⁠" Giuseppe's double AWP setup began to tear apart Envy's attempts to enter the bombsites. Just one additional round went the way of Nifty and company as the Brazilian side once again took firm control of the proceedings, closing out the series with a 16-12 map win.

Swole Patrol started their series against FURIA with a 2-0 lead on Inferno courtesy of a pair of 1vs2 clutches by Jordan "⁠Zellsis⁠" Montemurro, but a stellar individual effort from Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan and FURIA's aggressive style allowed the Brazilians to reply back with a six-round spree. Swole Patrol managed to notch four additional rounds, but arT kept his side ahead 9-6 as he closed out the half with an ace.

A pistol victory following the side swap was converted by FURIA to take another four rounds in a row, with Yassine "⁠Subroza⁠" Taoufik grabbing two quad kills to help Swole Patrol fight their way up to twelve rounds. The comeback effort was not enough however, and FURIA were win four final rounds to close out the map with arT having 33 frags to his name.

Swole Patrol once again took an early 3-0 lead as FURIA's map pick of Vertigo got underway, but the Brazilian side were the ones who emerged victorious from a back-and-forth trading of rounds to end up ahead 9-6 at the half. arT and company extended their lead with a pistol round victory for an 11-7 scoreline, but a strong performance by Jaccob "⁠yay⁠" Whiteaker helped Swole Patrol win four rounds in a row to allow his side and steal the lead at 12-11.

A pistol buy combined with an A ramp push by FURIA was what allowed the Brazilians to halt the streak, with Swole Patrol only able to win one additional round before FURIA closed out the series with a 16-13 map victory.