The first few days are not going as planned for some of the top billed cast of ESL One: Road to Rio Europe. Astralis, Fnatic and Vitality all have a loss on their record while mousesports are already primed for elimination after a horrendous start. Things are much more straightforward in North America where surprises are scarce thus far.
Early times, early struggles at ESL One: Road to Rio Europe
Ninjas in Pyjamas have emerged on top in Group A with a pair of impressive victories over Vitality and Dignitas. The much anticipated clash with Dignitas left much to be desired as NiP’s former squad was completely outmatched by the current Ninjas.
Heretics took advantage of their easy schedule and are so far matching NiP’s win output with Ws over Dignitas and ENCE. It’s becoming apparent that DIG’s second big event is going in the same unwanted direction it went during Flashpoint. Complexity keep them company in the 0-2 pool, but with Astralis and Vitality their first opponents, that’s understandable.
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Sitting next to Vitality at 1-1 are Fnatic and Astralis. The ESL Pro League champions were upset by ENCE in the group opener but followed that with a necessary victory over Astralis. All of this leaves Group A wide open for major shakeups in the standings in the days to come.
FaZe Clan established an early advantage in Group B. With much expected from the squad in 2020, they are off to a 2-0 record by beating North and G2. Movistar Riders are playing the role of Heretics with a clean record of their own. Mousesports were the big scalp, a feat followed by another win vs. c0ntact Gaming.
These are the squads laying on the low end of the Group B table. This is particularly disappointing for mousesports who not only lost twice, but did so to a couple of the preliminary underdogs – Movistar Riders and North. With upcoming games vs. FaZe and G2 the ESL Pro League finalists will need to bring their A game to the server or face early elimination.
North America sticks to normality
There weren’t nearly as many fireworks in the North American region of ESL One: Road to Rio. Gen.G are with an early lead in Group A, being the only 2-0 team. Evil Geniuses, 100 Thieves, Cloud9 and Triumph are at 1-1 with Orgless bottom of the group without a victory.
Team Liquid quickly overtook the Group B top, leaving Made in Brazil and Envy trailing with a 1-1 split. Bad News bears and Yeah are shaping up as the group’s outsiders. Yeah in particular had a game to remember versus Envy in which they lost both maps 16-2 – not a level of performance that would get them through to Rio.
ESL One: Road to Rio resumes in both regions today. The schedule looks like this:
Europe
- Ninjas in Pyjamas – ENCE Esports
- Fnatic – Dignitas
- GODSENT – Copenhagen Flames
- Astralis – Team Vitality
- FaZe Clan – Movistar Riders
- Heretics – Complexity Gaming
North America
- Evil Geniuses – Cloud9
- Gen.G – Orgless
- 100 Thieves – Triumph
You best be sure that we’ll be back to inform you on the latest ESL One: Road to Rio developments. Stay tuned!
