After two weeks of ESL Pro League Season 5 group stages, the North American standings are shaping up as expected.
Cloud9 and SK Gaming, two of the favorites coming into the tournament, lead the pack with undefeated records at 6-0. Chomping at their heels are OpTic Gaming and Team Liquid with just one loss apiece. After that, the competition thins out, but a few dark horse teams lurk in the shadows. Here are a few highlights from Week 2.
NRG shows energy
The first set of matches Tuesday between Team Liquid and NRG Esports wasn't expected to be close. But NRG snagged a surprising 22-19 overtime win on Cache before Liquid rebounded with a tense 16-14 win on Cobblestone.
Although Liquid has the more prestigious roster, they had trouble against NRG (2-2) on Cache. Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski kept Liquid together. EliGE was three steps ahead of a feisty NRG team with a 43/26 KD (kills/deaths) in Game 1 despite the loss. EliGE pumped out another 26 kills on Cobblestone but had more help from his teammates. Nick "nitro" Cannella and new Liquid member Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz both chipped in 20-plus kills on the map. Peter "ptr" Gurney was the top performer for NRG with a combined 62 kills during the set.
Despite their ninth-place spot in the standings, NRG actually has a positive rounds differential at plus-2. Watch out for NRG. They look sharp right now.
No one's immortal
The surprises didn't stop there, as OpTic Gaming took on Immortals in the latter half of Wednesday's action. OpTic, which was undefeated coming into the match, was blown out by Immortals 16-6 on Cache. Both OpTic's in-game leader Spencer "Hiko" Martin and its AWPer Óscar "mixwell" Cañellas finished with just eight kills each and couldn't overcome the team play of Immortals. No Immortals player finished with a negative KD, and Ricardo "boltz" Prass pumped in a devastating 112.0 ADR (average damage per round). Immortals was no match for OpTic on Overpass, however, as OpTic easily took the map 16-5. Keith "NAF" Markovic and Tarik "tarik" Celik led OpTic with 20-plus kills each, as well as 112.5 and 120.8 ADRs, respectively.
Thursday featured another stunning set between a powerhouse and an underdog. SK Gaming -- fresh off an impressive showing at DreamHack Las Vegas -- was expected to plow through 13th-place RUSH on Mirage, but RUSH (0-6) certainly put up a fight, eventually losing 19-17 in overtime. RUSH's Derrick "LILMAN" Boyne and Matt "Pollo" Wilson both ended up with 100-plus ADRs, and LILMAN earned a 33/24 KD. Ultimately, SK's AWPer Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo, who finished with a 34/18 KD, was too much for RUSH to handle. The set stayed competitive on Cobblestone, where Pollo again played well (25/22 KD), but SK's Marcelo "coldzera" David (31/20 KD) shouldered the team to a 2-0 victory.
Although the standings look as one might expect, the tournament favorites don't look as bulletproof as expected. ESL Pro League will take a one-week hiatus due to teams competing at IEM Katowice, but keep an eye out when action resumes March 7. The Davids don't look like they're afraid of the Goliaths at all.