ESL One New York 2019 continued with the Group Stage on day 2, with both Semifinals set by the end of the day. Group A featured a single best-of-three sandwiched into three Group B matches to decide who would play on the Barclays Center stage in Brooklyn this weekend. Let's take a look at how ESL One NY day 2 played out.
The day started with the Group B Winners match between Evil Geniuses and Astralis. EG and Astralis had defeated FaZe Clan and OpTic Gaming yesterday, respectively, and faced off to see who would qualify for the Semifinals with on the opposing side of Team Liquid, who finished yesterday with a 2-0 record in Group A.
Since its return to CS:GO less than two days ago, Evil Geniuses has yet to drop a map. Astralis met the same fate as FaZe Clan at the hands of EG, losing the match 2-0. On Dust 2, EG led narrowly at the half 8-7, and managed to edge out the map 16-14. Astralis countered by picking a signature map for the Danish squad, Inferno, but EG refused to let up, upsetting Astralis on its preferred pick 16-12.
Evil Geniuses, now 2-0, has qualified for the Semifinals from Group B.
Starting simultaneously with the Group B Winners' Match, OpTic Gaming faced off next against FaZe Clan in the Group B Elimination match. The winner would move on to face Astralis for the final seed in the Semifinals; the loser would be sent home. FaZe Clan jumped out to an early lead on Nuke, featuring a phenomenal AWP play courtesy of Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer Gustafsson.
Despite the strong start from the FaZe side, OpTic wrestled back control, eventually taking the match 16-11 after a hard fight from both sides. Despite adding Marcelo "coldzera" David before the event, FaZe was unable to develop enough synergy to bounce back from a rough start, and ended their tournament as a set of corpses on Dust II. FaZe Clan's roster has potential, but there was simply not enough time for the team to put things together at the top competitive level.
There was only enough space for one Danish CS:GO squad in the Semifinals, and unfortunately for OpTic Gaming, Astralis would not be denied a chance at defending its throne secured at the 2019 Starladder Berlin Major. Astralis fractured the GreenWall on Nuke 16-6 before knocking it down for good on Dust II 16-7. In winning the Group B Decider Match, Astralis joined Evil Geniuses as the Semifinalists from Group B.
The only match in Group A on day 2 was the Group A Decider Match. G2 Esports faced off against ENCE to see if it could join TL after losing to the North American side in the Group A Winners' match the day prior.
G2 was expected to be weakened coming into the event with the benching of Richard "shox" Papillon for the European Qualifier for ESL One NY. Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey has filled in for shox during both the qualifier and the event itself. Yesterady, the organization decided it had seen enough after shox's poor performance in Berlin, and parted ways with him for good.
Despite kioShiMa not playing consistent professional CS:GO since parting ways with Cloud9 last November, the Frenchmen has fit right in with his new, native roster. G2 managed to take a map from Team Liquid yesterday, 19-17, and today, helped G2 qualify for Semifinals in its own three-game victory over ENCE. ENCE fought hard, only losing map 1 19-17 and reversing momentum to win map 2 16-11, but G2 triumphed in the end, winning map 3 16-11.
G2 Esports may not have a specific plan for their roster past this event, but a Semifinals qualification with a new stand-in player is quite impressive and should inspire hope for the organization's future in CS.
The Semifinals matches have been set for ESL One New York 2019. G2 Esports will face off against Evil Geniuses at 2:20pm local time in Brookyn's Barclays Center. Team Liquid and Astralis will follow suit with a best-of-3 of their own afterwards. The winners of both matches will face off tomorrow in the ESL One NY Grand Finals.
The ESL analyst desk closed out the show by making some predictions ahead of the Semifinals. Duncan "Thooorin" Shields chose Team Liquid to win the event, whereas fellow analyst Mathieu "Maniac" Quiquerez predicted Astralis to defend its title. Lastly, host Frankie "getfrank" Ward predicted the former NRG Esports roster to win the event for its new organization, Evil Geniuses.
The Semifinals pre-show for ESL One NY begins at 1:55pm local time in Barclays Center , so make sure to tune into the stream at the pre-show's start so you don't miss a moment of the action.
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