The second week of the ESL Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Pro League Season 5 kicked off Tuesday after a bye week due to Dreamhack Masters Las Vegas. A handful of teams were able to pick up their first wins of the season, while others are still left with a zero in the win column. Here is how Week 2 played out in the European division.
Team EnVyUs and HellRaisers started Tuesday's action with essentially a draw, finishing the set each winning a game. EnVyUs got off to a tremendous start on Train to start Map 1, finishing with a 13-2 first half lead over HellRaisers. That lead proved to be insurmountable, as EnVy staved off a late rally to take Map 1 16-10. EnVyUs looked to shut out HellRaisers on Cobblestone in Map 2 but instead took a thrashing of their own. After accumulating an early 3-0 lead, EnVy found themselves down 11-4 to start the second half. That deficit quickly turned into a loss, as EnVyUs couldn't flip the momentum, handing HellRaisers their first win of the ESL Pro League Season 5.
Week 2 offered another team its first win of the tournament, as Fnatic managed to grab a Map 1 win on Wednesday before an ESEA service outage caused the second game of the set to be postponed. While their opponent, G2, got off to an alarming start on Cobblestone, earning a six-round lead, it was Fnatic who turned the tides, riding the wave of momentum off an upgraded pistol rush to go into the half down just 9-6. Fnatic's defense was spectacular in the second half, earning a much-needed seven win streak to take the lead 13-9. Although G2 came back late to take five rounds, Fnatic managed to keep their bearings, recording a 16-14 win. G2 has yet to win a map through Week 2.
One team not languishing in losses is mousesports, who swept Kinguin in their Week 2 on Thursday. In Map 1, mousesports surged to a stellar 13-2 first half lead on Nuke. Kinguin did manage to win three rounds in the second half, but that would do little to stop mouz from claiming a 16-5 win. Map 2 proved to be a far different story for the German-based team, however, as Kinguin's defense rose to the occasion in the first half, resulting in a paltry 8-7 lead for mousesports going into the break. It seemed as if Kinguin would run away with the second half, winning six consecutive rounds, but mouz would eventually slam the door on the comeback, finishing with a 16-14 Map 2 win.
Astralis also ended Thursday's action on a high note, surviving a thrilling triple overtime game against LDLC to claim a 2-0 record to end Week 2. The set sure didn't start out peachy for Astralis, however, as LDLC got off to a great start on defense, racing out to a 5-0 lead. That would effectively be all for the upstart organization, as Astralis won 16 of the ensuing 19 rounds to record a 16-8 win in Map 1. Looking to finish off the set in style, the Danes finished Map 2 with a 10-5 lead at the half. That didn't stop LDLC, however, as the team rattled off 10 round wins of their own, eventually pushing the contest into overtime. Neither team could find a winner in the first two overtime rounds until Astralis finally sealed the deal late in the third overtime, securing the 25-23 victory.
Week 3 will start on Tuesday, March 7, at 1 p.m. EST.