It is Day 3 of the ESL Pro LEague S10 Finals and it brings a host of interesting matchups. Five matches are scheduled for today with the two upper bracket finals being the most interesting one.
The Group A Upper Bracket Final involves a match up between Evil Geniuses and Natus Vincere at 09:35 EDT(20:05 IST). Both these teams have looked phenomenal in their recent matches which builds up to the hype of an exciting contest.
The winner of the contest goes directly to the semifinals while the loser will have to play one playoff match to book a spot in the semis.
Na’Vi in particular have looked pretty sharp with their new roster finally clicking together. The dynamic duo of Oleksandr “S1mple” Kostyliev and Denis “electronic” Sharipov both have a rating above 1.00 . After signing Ladislav “Guardian” Kovacs again for the retired “Zeus” there were high hopes for the roster. Many even considered them to topple Team Liquid and Astralis and reign supreme. But after sub par finishes at the Blast Pro Series and StarSeries doubts were raised about “S1mple’s” attitude towards his team mates. But all seems to be put to rest if we consider their recent showings at the ESL Pro League.
Natus Vincere have rattled both of their opponents so far; beating Tyloo 16-6 on Dust II in the opening match and comfortably beating MiBR 2-0 in Bo3 format. Defeating Tyloo was not an easy task. Tyloo had been on an amazing run at StarSeries Season 8 wherein they were defeated in the semifinals. MiBR though inconsistent in recent months still remained a potent opposition with likes of Gabriel “Fallen” Toledo. Recapturing his best form recently. Na’Vi managed to beat MiBR on Train, MiBR’s best map and a map which Na’Vi had failed to win in past 8 matches. In the end Na’Vi comfortably beat MiBR on Dust II and progressed to the Upper Bracket Finals.
Their opponents Evil Geniuses have blown hot and cold in recent tournaments. They exited StarSeries Season 8 and IEM Beijing in the group stages while placing 3rd-4th in the recently concluded ECS Season 8 finals and also toppling Astralis at ESL One New York. They also held the #1 world ranking on Hltv.org for two weeks and are currently ranked #3 in the world.
EG are a team which generally start off slowly and pick up pace as the tournament progresses.
But it has been anything like it as they easily deposed of Fnatic, the #6 ranked team 16-3 on Mirage and then beating the 100 Thieves 2-0 in a B03 format. The 100 Thieves are no pushovers and have been in scintillating form in recent months. So beating them 2-0 was no easy task which they completed admirably. The firepower of the team comes mainly from Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte, Ethan “Ethan” Arnold and the aggressive awping of the Bulgarian giant Cvetelin “Cerq” Dimitrov. Combine this with strats of Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz EG become a deadly team.
The matchup between these two giants will be no shorts of fireworks and some mesmerizing plays. Considering the deep map pools of both these teams any map can be selected except for Vertigo (who likes to play that map anyway).
EG’s recent and current form which they have shown may be too hot to handle for Na’Vi and hence they are most likely to edge out the series 2-1.
The other upper bracket final has Team Liquid going head to head with their arch rivals Astralis.
Watch games live here.
