ESL Pro League Season 18ESL Pro League quarter-finals day 2 highlights
Keep up with the highlights and lowlights of the second day of ESL Pro League Season 18's quarter-finals here in our live post.
Quarter-finals day 2
— ENCE destroyed Movistar Riders with Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia red-hot against his former team (1.74 rating)
— MOUZ left an individually struggling G2 in the dust
That was not even close, the Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov-inspired comeback at the end of the first half was but a flash in the pan, as MOUZ romp to a convincing victory.
Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás went big in the first half, David "frozen" Čerňanský stepped up in the second, whilst by contrast G2's individuals struggled to get much done outside of the aforementioned m0NESY.
MOUZ secure a notable upset and continue their stellar run in Malta, whilst G2 exit the final Big Event playoffs in CS:GO history with a disappointing whimper.
Roles were reversed at the start of this Inferno game, as it was MOUZ's turn to build a big lead, and G2's turn to attempt a recovery.
Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás was in sublime form in the early stages, treating Inferno like a playground as he bandied about his AWP. Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov was the man who stepped up to kickstart G2's mini-comeback, finding double entries up banana twice.
One more half left to play, can MOUZ hang on to their lead and clinch the series?
MOUZ won the pistol and converted to kick off their offense, but they seemed to badly lack ideas in the gun rounds, which allowed G2 to march their way to map point.
Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek opted to continue with their brute-force approach, the team jumping through smokes with reckless abandon, but they somehow managed to scramble back to within one round of forcing overtime.
Step up the best rifler CS:GO has ever seen, Nikola "NiKo" Kovač. Just look at that beautiful sequence.
Inferno will be needed as a decider to separate these two squads.
An incredibly poor start to their CT side left MOUZ trailing 2-8, but they recovered somewhat thanks to some slick retakes.
Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov shrugged off his woeful second-half on Mirage to lead the way for G2, and Nikola "NiKo" Kovač also produced a powerful first-half performance.
Things were looking dire for MOUZ, they have started Ancient poorly, but Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo's impressive 4k has perhaps granted his team a lifeline.
Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill was not impressed by G2's performance on Mirage, and he detailed his thoughts in a rant in the post-game analysis.
MOUZ managed to complete an impressive recovery from 1-7 down to take their map pick of Mirage.
G2 put some pressure on towards the middle of their offensive effort, but MOUZ stayed resilient and got the job done.
Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek, Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás and Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo all provided impact to help power their team to victory, but the incredible collapse of Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov might well be the headline individual performance. He had 18 kills by round 12, and then did not find a single kill for the rest of the game.
G2 came into Mirage map in red-hot form, battering MOUZ's offense early thanks to some spectacular AWP work from Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov to earn a 7-1 lead.
MOUZ stayed resilient, however, and ground their way back into contention with some strong trading work as they attacked the bombsites.
Is Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov even the best AWPer in G2? Yes, but Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen seems to have been taking lessons judging from this sick clutch that has kept his team in the ascendancy.
MOUZ seem to be taking a very relaxed approach ahead of their upcoming game with G2, judging from the player cams...
In other news, Nikola "NiKo" Kovač took some time out to give an interview on broadcast, and he highlighted the importance of appreciating the historic playoffs his team are a part of, the final Big Event playoffs in CS:GO.
"I think we need to just take a moment and enjoy every round, every single moment that we could experience here, it’s going to be one of the last in CS:GO. I think we are all just very happy to be a part of this event as well, since it’s one of the last ones, so we are all just excited and a bit emotional at the same time."
Alejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo Cano
Tiago 'JUST' Moura
Adam 'adamS' Marian
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman
Pavle 'Maden' Bošković
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov
Jan 'Swani' Müller
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