R6 Pro League EU matchday 11 was an intense day. Team Empire found surprising opposition in their matchup against PENTA Sports, while Team Secret pulled out all the stops against G2 Esports. With so much to gain and so much to lose, let’s go through each match to see who found victory and who found themselves worse off after matchday 11.
The fifth-ranked PENTA Sports and the top-ranked Team Empire mixed it up on Oregon. PENTA entered three points away from the fourth-place spot, while Empire leads the EU with 28 points. With Empire’s unbeaten to this point, PENTA had their work cut out for themselves heading into the match. The pre-match survey saw Empire grab 70 percent of the vote and 27 percent allocated to PENTA. We saw Nomad, Ying, Mira, and Echo banned at the beginning of the match.
PENTA threw Empire off their game in round one with an odd basement defense. Ghassan “Milosh” Finge and Robert Flynn highlighted that PENTA reinforcing a wall in Electrical Room completely ruined Empire’s plan of attack. The wall is normally open to create a rotation for defenders, and having it closed seemed key to PENTA’s successful defense. However, PENTA failed to hold Dorms in round two and Empire showed us a sneaky plant in the evacuated site for the win.
When PENTA attempted to retake Dorms in round three, Danil “JoyStiCK “ Gabov shut the defenders down. JoyStiCK held his angle from the window and never even had to enter the building, which showed us how flustered Empire had made PENTA early in the match. Empire continued to rattle PENTA through round five and extended their early lead 4-1.
JoyStiCK shredded through the entire PENTA roster with the coveted ace in round five in a lone Capitao push. It was an impressive show of force by JoyStiCK. Jean “RevaN” Prudenti failed to deny Empire the plant in round six when he completely botched an easy Pulse kill for himself. Luckily, Lucas ”Hungry” Reich was there to secure the final kill on Empire and get the diffuse for PENTA’s second win of the match.
PENTA managed to pull out another win in round seven, but as Flynn noted, it was not pretty and could have easily gone the Empire’s way if they played on any other map. PENTA went on a three-round win streak, while Empire had a tough time getting it together on the defensive side. Milosh and Flynn pointed out that Oregon is where the top teams go to die, which further showed that we can’t really depend on pre-stream surveys. PENTA brought the match to 6-5, which gave them a much needed point.
Ultimately, the match wrapped at 7-5 in PENTA’s favor. PENTA still has an uphill battle on their hands if they hope to contend for the second qualifying spot. Conversely, Empire is still in a good position despite earning their first loss.
Next, Team Secret met G2 Esports on Clubhouse. Secret entered the match in the dreaded auto-relegation spot, which meant that they needed to pull out all the stops in order to stay out of Challenger League. Meanwhile, G2 sat in third place, but four points back from the second-ranked LeStream Esport. The pre-stream survey went G2’s way with 81 percent, and 12 percent for Secret. Montagne, Maverick, Smoke, and Mira were banned out from the start of the match.
Secret played a near perfect round one while quickly dispatching Daniel Mazorra “Goga” Romero’s Ash. The momentum found in Goga’s death carried through the round, evident by every Secret player staying alive. G2 answered Secret’s round one win with a shutdown in round two, showing us that we may have another match like Empire and PENTA’s.
Juhani “Kantoraketti” Toivonen ended up fragging his teammate Goga in a round three push, which Secret capitalized on for a round win. G2’s round three effort seemed uncoordinated and riddled with easily avoidable mistakes. Secret on the other hand managed to do a good job of pushing G2 attackers and forcing gunfights to bring the match 3-1 in their favor.
David “sTiZze” de Castro racked up a 3k while defending on Arsenal Room. STiZze’s contribution helped Secret whittle G2 down to a one-vs-five, and ultimately the round six win for a lead of 4-2. Niclas “Pengu” Mouritzen proved himself a lethal opponent when helping to bring the match back to 3-4, but Pengu couldn’t do it all and Secret furthered their lead 5-3. Flynn noted that G2’s poor positioning may have been to blame for the round seven loss. Kantoraketti was unable to secure the win in a one-vs-three situation, thus allowing Secret the point at the half.
Secret managed to force G2 into a match standing of 6-4. G2 would not lay down for Secret, though, and Fabian “Fabian” Hallsten locked down round 11 to bring his team within a round. Secret impressively found a much-needed victory at 7-5, although their fight to avoid relegation will continue to be a rough road. G2 can’t rely on Pengu to find all the wins for the team, and need to step it up as a team. Losing against a team that sits at the bottom of the standings isn’t a good look.
Na’Vi and CHAOS battled on Border. Na’Vi needed this win to help them fend off Secret from surpassing them in the standings and guard themselves against auto-relegation. CHAOS sits well above Na’Vi with 15 points. Ying, Maverick, Mira, and Echo were banned at the start.
Na’Vi wrapped round one quickly when the defending CHAOS attempted to take the fight to the attackers. CHAOS was unable to win their gunfights and fell impressively fast to Na’Vi. Things continued to go sour for CHAOS in round two with Na’Vi finishing both of the opening rounds without losing any players. CHAOS opted for a hands-off approach to round three and ran the clock by hiding from attackers. We basically got two very unsatisfying strategies from CHAOS in the early rounds. The team either showed irresponsible aggression, or lackluster hide-and-seek tactics that barely won them round three.
Luckily, CHAOS finally found their stride in round four and continued to hold Na’Vi at the door until the last seconds of the round. Wasting attackers’ time seemed to be the key to success for CHAOS, and it helped them lock in three rounds in a row. Na’Vi was able to stop the momentum and bring the match 3-3, but Christoffer “Kripps” Brushane continually leveled out the playing field for CHAOS.
Na’Vi allowed CHAOS to get to 5-3, which didn’t help Na’Vi’s match outlook. Mattias Johannes “Renuilz” Nordebäck sliced through Na’Vi with a 3K when he and Kripps descended upon the objective in round nine. Rickard “Secretly” Erik Mikael Olofsson closed out the match for a CHAOS win of 7-3.
With the loss, Na’Vi switches places with Team Secret and now sit in auto-relegation. Milosh provided an optimistic outlook for CHAOS going forward if certain top-ranked teams continue to drop their matches. CHAOS is now tied with PENTA for points.
Mousesports and LeStream Esport came to blows on Bank. LSE took the pre-stream vote with 58 percent, leaving a respectable 38 percent to mouz. With mouz looking to regain some traction in the standings to avoid a potential slip to relegation and LSE looking to keep their strong second place spot in the EU division, there was a fair amount riding on this match. Nomad, Ying, Valkyrie, and Mira were banned out of the match from the jump. Echo and Maestro both being allowed in the match would prove difficult to navigate for both teams.
Mouz showed a solid effort in a patient and smart round one defense. LSE seemed to struggle to find their footing in the early rounds, resulting in mouz snagging two rounds straight away. It took LSE three rounds to secure a win. If Théophile “Hicks” Dupont hadn’t shot a defender nitro cell out of the air, however, then the round could have easily swung the other way. Maurice “AceeZ” Erkelenz contributed greatly to LSE’s round four win by holding the windows of CEO as Blackbeard. The match seemed to even out, but also resembled the beginning of the CHAOS vs. Na’Vi match.
Aleksi “UUNO” Työppönen carried his weight by securing early frags for LSE. UUNO picking up early frags wasn’t enough in round six, as Jouni “Bounssi” Willehard Salo and Alex “Slebben” Nordlund were able to shut LSE down in an impressive round six comeback. Sadly, a team kill on the mouz side of the round allowed LSE to bring the match to 3-4. With mouz just one round ahead, LSE needed to focus up if they wanted to secure any points to better their status in the standings. AceeZ continued to prove his worth with a firm grasp on CCTV site as Kaid to tie the match at four rounds each.
Mouz continued to lose control of the match by giving LSE five round wins in a row and thus the win at 7-4. Not banning Echo or Maestro ended up contributing to mouz’s demise at the end of the day. Mouz looks like they’re headed toward relegation matches, while LSE continues to hold a strong second place in the EU division. Na’Vi and mouz are now in serious trouble heading into the next matchday.
R6 Pro League EU division will be back Friday, April 12. The next broadcast will kick off Monday, April 8 with the NA division. Fans can always catch the official Pro League stream here.
