The RMR Europe is getting heated as surprises are happening in almost every round of the tournament so far. This time, two big names got knocked out early from the event, leaving them with bitter taste in their mouth and probably a dose of hurt pride.
Let’s dive in and analyze the matchups that caught a lot of attention over the last day or two.
Forze vs Astralis
At the IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR A, forZe’s 2-0 win in the 1-2 pool put Astralis’ championship hopes to rest. This means that the Danish organization, which debuted at MLG Columbus 2016 for the first time, will miss its first-ever Major.
Andrey “Jerry” Mekhryakov and his team prevailed 16–14 on the two incredibly tight maps, Mirage and Nuke, which were both won by the Russian team.
Alexandr “shalfey” Marenov, 20, was the player of the match for his team, surpassing 50 frags in the two-map series with 52 kills while averaging a 1.37 rating and 86.2 ADR.
Astralis’ inability to hold onto a 13-4 advantage on Mirage in the first round of the series left forZe in a difficult position after losing their map choice. Instead, the Russian team outperformed the Danish team 16-14 by winning 12 of the 13 rounds on the CT side.
With their Nuke choice, Astralis began to show indications of improvement, winning six rounds on offense and maintaining a strong chance of turning things around defensively. At one point, they even managed to establish a 12-point lead.
After then, forZe completely changed the dynamic of the match, winning three straight matches to take a 14–12 lead. After several back-and-forth rounds, Aleksandr “zorte” Zagodyrenko and colleagues were able to win the series and continue the game at the RMR on another day.
GamerLegion vs G2
GamerLegion overcame G2 in a three-map series, pulling off an improbable victory to advance in the IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR A. The team is coached by Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek.
Following a hard-fought loss on Ancient against 1WIN, which came before the defeat by GamerLegion that put an end to their Major qualification campaign, G2 were placed in an undesirable position in the 1-2 pool. The loss ends the G2 organization’s streak of eleven straight Major appearances, which began at the 2015 DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca.
Fnatic, a legendary organization in the CS:GO scene, also competed for survival, but they maintained their chances of qualifying by defeating Eternal Fire to advance to the Swiss stage’s last series in the 2-2 pool.
G2 got the series underway by easily winning their chosen map, Vertigo, 16-3. What appeared to be a typical day at work for them rapidly became a nightmare. The second map of the series was Mirage, where G2 lost 4-16 and appeared to be at a loss for words, sending the series to the decisive game on Inferno.
The favorites got off to a good start on the third map, winning the forcebuy after dropping pistol to go up 3-1. However, GamerLegion didn’t let that concern them, as they quickly evened the score to go into the break 7-8 down. GamerLegion’s second-half pistol appeared to be the deciding blow for G2, who found themselves 8–12 behind. They began to close the gap, but a quick play by Frederik “acoR” Gyldstrand on the B site destroyed G2’s spirit and economy, and GamerLegion ultimately won the map 16-12.
