The opening day of ESL Pro League’s second stage wrapped up with Falcons securing a 2-1 series win against Liquid in what was anticipated to be one of the closest matchups of the round.
The action began on Inferno, where Falcons edged out an overtime victory, largely thanks to a pivotal 1v3 clutch from Emil “Magisk” Reif. Liquid responded strongly on Dust2, where Roland “ultimate” Tomkowiak’s precise AWP plays guided them to a series equalizer.
The final battle took place on Ancient, where Falcons managed to recover from a rough first half. Facing a 4-8 deficit, they held strong on the CT side, winning crucial clutch situations to force overtime. Although Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken and his squad pushed the map to extra rounds, their struggles on the attack persisted, allowing Falcons to secure the series with a dominant defensive showing.
René “TeSeS” Madsen had a rough start to the series, posting low ratings of 0.65 and 0.46 on the first two maps. However, he delivered a standout performance exactly when needed, racking up 18 kills and 137 ADR during Falcons’ CT side run on Ancient, sealing their hard-earned victory.
The result capped off an intense first round in Stage 2, where several high-profile teams were put to the test. While favorites like Natus Vincere and Eternal Fire stumbled, losing to SAW and 3DMAX respectively, other top contenders faced serious challenges.
Vitality had to claw their way back after dropping Anubis to MIBR, and MOUZ had a grueling showdown with FURIA that went down to the wire on Nuke. Meanwhile, TYLOO delivered a surprising performance against Spirit but ultimately fell short on a closely contested Anubis.
