by ENCE is aiming for their fifth consecutive grand final appearance at ESL Pro League following a dominant 2-0 victory over Movistar Riders.
ENCE’s CS:GO team, led by Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia, left no chance for the Spanish squad with impressive score lines of 16-2 on Overpass and 16-5 on Anubis.
SunPayus, the AWPer for ENCE, delivered a stellar performance with a remarkable 1.72 rating.
In a pre-game interview, Guy “NertZ” Iluz offered praise for his teammate’s outstanding performance by saying, “when SunPayus is feeling the game, I don’t think anyone can stop him.”
Movistar Riders struggled to hold their ground, lasting less than ten rounds on Overpass before succumbing to ENCE’s dominance.
Despite some close and chaotic situations early in the match, Riders failed to capitalize on them, allowing ENCE to cruise to victory.
ENCE displayed their superiority with a convincing 16-2 win.
The momentum carried into the Anubis map, where SunPayus continued to shine by quickly securing rounds for his team.
Although Alejandro “alex” Masanet and his team managed to win three of the last five rounds in the first half, the switch favoured Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer’s ENCE squad.
ENCE’s pistol round victory sealed the deal as they went on a 6-0 run to finish the map 16-5.
Despite the one-sided nature of the series, Antonio “Martinez” Martinez of Movistar Riders maintained a respectable 1.07 rating, offering a silver lining for his team in the face of such a dominant defeat.
.@ENCE demolish @Movistar_Riders 2-0, securing their spot in the SEMI FINALS of #ESLProLeague Season 18! ??
16-2 Overpass
16-5 Anubis pic.twitter.com/D8MBLkwvjc— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 29, 2023
In an upset, MOUZ eliminated G2 from the ESL Pro League with a 2-1 victory.
They secured wins on Mirage (16-13) and Inferno (16-7) while narrowly losing on Ancient (14-16).
G2 entered the match as favourites but were plagued by disappointing individual performances.
Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov struggled in the second half of Mirage, Nikola “NiKo” Kova? had a tough time on Inferno, and G2’s renowned mechanical skill didn’t fully materialize.
The Mirage map started poorly for MOUZ, falling behind 1-7 while G2 dominated. However, MOUZ made a comeback, narrowing the score to 7-8 at halftime.
G2 struggled in the second half, and MOUZ secured a 16-13 victory.
On G2’s pick of Ancient, they took an early lead, but MOUZ mounted a comeback.
The game appeared to be firmly in control of G2 until MOUZ rallied late, bringing the score close.
However, NiKo’s exceptional performance with a three-kill clutch secured the win for G2 and forced a decider.
In the decider on Inferno, MOUZ took control early on, limiting G2 to just one round in the second half.
MOUZ secured a convincing 16-7 victory to seal the series win in their favour.
ádám “torzsi” Torzsás, speaking after the game, expressed excitement about their upcoming rematch with ENCE, the team that defeated MOUZ in the IEM Dallas grand final earlier in the year.
He acknowledged the challenge posed by ENCE and the tough playoff bracket ahead.
ENCE will go into the semi-final as slight favourites with most esports betting sites at -138.89 with MOUZ being marked as +100 outsiders.
.@mousesports are going to the SEMI FINALS by taking down @G2CSGO 2-1 at #ESLProLeague Season 18 ??
16-13 Mirage
14-16 Ancient
16-7 Inferno pic.twitter.com/I9J9AadW0W— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 29, 2023
