Week 2 of the European ESL Pro League division jumped back into action Tuesday after a week off for DreamHack Masters Malmo. Fnatic was one of those teams, and ended up taking the top spot in the standings over previous leader of FaZe Clan.
To kick off Week 2, Astralis (5-3, 15 points) held onto fourth place in the European standings after sweeping Ninjas in Pyjamas (3-5, 9 points) in what seemed to be a way for the Danes to blow off steam after the DreamHack Masters Malmo quarterfinal exit this past weekend. It didn't last long, however, as the Danes of Astralis had a lackluster performance in Game 2 against GODSENT (4-3, 12 points) on Wednesday, which left the series as a 1-1 tie.
The Swedes of NiP seemed to still be feeling the blues from another poor performance at DreamHack by getting swept 16-6 and 16-14 by Astralis to open the week. The team's spirits seemed to lift Thursday, however, when it put a thrashing on HellRaisers (2-8, 6 points), who only won 11 rounds across the entire best-of-two series. The Ninjas are still on the outside looking in, however, hanging tight at 8th place in the standings.
With the recent addition of Fredrik "freddieb" Buo as the new in-game leader of GODSENT, the team bounced back in Week 2 to squeeze into the top six. The new in-game leader not only brought a new structure to the team, but brought firepower, as well, during the 1-1 series split against Team EnVyUs (3-7, 9 points). Despite dropping Game 1 against Astralis later in the week, Dennis "dennis" Edman came up big to close out the series with a 16-8 win on Overpass.
The runner-ups to G2 Esports at DreamHack Masters Malmo, North (6-2, 18 points), had a rough start to Week 2, dropping the opening game against a shockingly dominant HellRaisers. HellRaisers were unable to sweep the series, and North got its redemption on Cobblestone after being gutted in the grand final loss to G2 on the very same map. The Danes of North are currently tied with FaZe Clan for the second place spot in the EU standings.
While North was getting its redemption on Cobblestone, Fnatic (7-1,21 points) was doing a bit of cleansing as well, picking upa win over Team EnVyUs on the same map to claim Game 1 of the series. Despite the fluke during the group stage at Malmo, Fnatic remained composed in what was a strong defensive series sweep over EnVyUs to claim the Week 2 crown.
Fnatic, North FaZe Clan, Astralis, Heroic, and GODSENT round out the top six of the EU region at the end of Week 2.