Sharks, Isurus open ESL Pro League Group D with wins

Sharks and Isurus have kicked off their ESL Pro League Season 10 Americas campaigns with 2-0 victories over DETONA and Infinity, respectively.

A triple kill from Lucas "⁠Lucaozy⁠" Neves gave DETONA the start they needed on Sharks' pick of Vertigo, allowing the team to take five rounds in a row to kick off the map. Double kills from Ignacio "⁠meyern⁠" Meyer and Leonardo "⁠leo_drk⁠" Oliveira was what first put Sharks on the board, with the team taking firm control of the proceedings for the remainder of the half. Four frags from Vinicius "⁠vsm⁠" Moreira with the AWP gave DETONA their only other round, leading to a 9-6 scoreline for Sharks as they swapped sides.

meyern and company doubled the score of their opponents as a pistol victory led to a trio of rounds for Sharks. Multi-kills from Matheus "⁠prt⁠" Scuvero kept DETONA in contention as they ran back a six-round spree, but Sharks refused to concede as they once again found the key to their offense to close out the map 16-12.

Sharks kept up the pressure as Dust2 got underway, fending off DETONA for the first four rounds thanks in part to a 1vs4 clutch by meyern. The two teams began grappling for control as DETONA fought back, eventually evening the score at 6-6, but Sharks once again pulled ahead at the end of the half for another 9-6 lead.

vsm's side were able to reduce the deficit to one round following a pistol victory, but a continued battle between the two sides saw Sharks prevail to take the momentum of the map and win a trio of rounds for another 16-12 win.

A two-round edge for Infinity to open up Mirage quickly dwindled as a quad kill from Maximiliano "⁠max⁠" Gonzalez helped Isurus find six in reply, giving the Argentinian side a 6-2 lead. Stellar fragging from Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa saw Infinity keep the scoreline close, winning five of the remaining seven rounds to leave Isurus with a small edge going into the second half.

A triple kill from Nicolás "⁠Noktse⁠" Dávila set the pace for Isurus following the side swap, with the 26-year-old continuing to find frags for his team. An ace from malbsMd capped off a four round streak for Infinity, briefly giving the team the lead at 11-10, but multi-kill rounds from Noktse, Gabriel "⁠1962⁠" Sinopoli, and Roberto "⁠reversive⁠" Themtham kept Isurus in control as they edged out a 16-13 win.

Infinity began to bounce back on Isurus' pick of Inferno, taking five rounds to kick off the map. A pistol buy was what offered Isurus the chance to break through, with the team taking two additional rounds before Infinity responded in kind for an 8-3 scoreline. A trio towards the end of the half kept Isurus in the running, and a pistol win on the defense gave them another four rounds as they narrowly pulled ahead 11-9.

Three M4 kills from Jesus "⁠sam_A⁠" Taboada put Infinity back in contention as they took five rounds for themselves, but Isurus continued to battle back as Noktse and max each secured quad kills to keep their side in the running. A 1vs3 by sam_A allowed Infinity up to match point, but Isurus were able to force overtime with two final rounds of their own. A flawless CT-side in overtime left Isurus three chances to close out the series, with the team needing to make use of all them before managing to close out the map 19-17.