ELEAGUE Major 2017: Day Three Matchups and Elimination Matches Analysis

The second day of the ELEAGUE Major has concluded, with G2 narrowly falling to Virtus.pro in the final matchup of the night. 

This effectively leaves the teams split into three groups – four that are currently 0-2, eight that are 1-1, and four that are still undefeated with two map wins. This makes the third day of the major incredibly important; it determines the first two teams to advance to the playoffs, and more crucially, gives us our first two elimination matches.

Elimination Matches

OpTic Gaming vs. Flipsid3 Tactics

Despite coming into the major as a favorite to make it to the playoffs, OpTic faces elimination tomorrow after narrow losses to Virtus.pro and Astralis in the first two days of the major.

Though Flipsid3 is overshadowed by the two other CIS teams in the tournament, Na’Vi and Gambit, they fought amicably versus Liquid, but lost narrowly with a 16-14 scoreline. Both teams look to redeem themselves, and keep their major dreams alive.

OpTic and Flipsid3 last faced each other at ESL One Cologne 2016, though both teams fielded different rosters at the time. At the time, Flipsid3 narrowly scraped a win with a 16-13 scoreline on Train, and they’ll likely look to repeat their performance as Train is most definitely a map that both teams will keep in the pool.

Depending on which team get three bans, the likely veto process is as follows: 

1. Flipsid3 removes Dust II.
2. OpTic removes Mirage.
3. Flipsid3 removes Cache.
4. OpTic removes Nuke.
5. Flipsid3/OpTic removes Cobblestone.

Overpass and Train are leftover.

Unfortunately for Flipsid3, this veto favours OpTic by an incredible margin. Overpass and Train are not only two of OpTic’s best maps, Flipsid3’s showing versus Liquid on Overpass gives little hope that they’ll have the ability to take down OpTic, who have shown more prowess on the map than their North American brethren. Train is also a mainstay for OpTic, though Flipsid3 may have a better shot at taking OpTic down on it than on Overpass.

North vs. HellRaisers

Yet another playoff favorite finds themselves fighting to stay in the major – North looked to be a menacing force towards the end of 2016, but their major run so far has been far from intimidating. They failed to close out Cobblestone versus Fnatic after having a considerable lead, and fell to Gambit on the same map the day before – not quite the awe-inspiring performance we witnessed during their Epicentre: Moscow run.

HellRaisers has also struggled immensely at the major, only garnering 14 rounds combined in their matches versus SK and mousesports. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be any easier for them on day three – North’s map pool is vast, and HellRaisers has yet to show enough firepower to compete with the duo of Emil “Magisk” Reif and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke when they’re on form.

The likely vetoes for this match are:

1. North removes Train.
2. HellRaisers removes Dust II.
3. North removes Cache.
4. HellRaisers removes Mirage. 
5. North removes Cobble.

Overpass and Nuke are leftover. 

Though it is possible for North to veto Nuke over Cobblestone, it’s unlikely – HellRaisers historically favor Cobblestone themselves, and MSL tends to veto as much in the favor of his own team as he can. North has proven to be incredibly proficient on Overpass since the addition of Reif, and they are incredibly favored if that was to be the map; however, Nuke may be a bit more even of a playing field for HellRaisers, though they have shown to be quite inconsistent on the map when playing against top-tier opposition.

Day Three Matchups

1-1 Matchups

Fnatic vs. mousesports

Godsent vs. EnVyUs

Astralis vs. G2 Esports

Team Liquid vs. FaZe Clan 

2-0 Matchups (Winners achieve Legends status)

Gambit Gaming vs. Virtus.Pro

SK vs. Natus Vincere 

0-2 Matchups (Loser is eliminated from ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017)

North vs. HellRaisers

Flipsid3 Tactics vs. OpTic Gaming

Photo credits: Turner, WME, IMG

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