Swole Patrol, EG secure Pro League wins to keep playoff race wide open

Swole Patrol and Evil Geniuses scored wins over FURIA and MIBR, respectively, to keep the ESL Pro League Season 11 North America group standings wide open heading into the final day of play.

A handful of unexpected results and upset wins has left four teams tied at six points apiece as the North American division of ESL Pro League heads into its final day of play.

Evil Geniuses currently reside at the top of the group, having only dropped a single series against Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward and company, while Liquid, 100 Thieves, Swole Patrol, and FURIA all maintain 2-2 records. MIBR are the sole team left with only a single series victory to their name, and require a win against Swole Patrol to have even a chance at edging into the top four.

Swole Patrol were able to add a second win to their tally by defeating FURIA in a two-map series, starting off strong on their own pick of Vertigo with a 6-1 lead before fighting back on the back foot in the second half, winning seven rounds in a row to secure the map win at 16-12. Edgar "⁠MarKE⁠" Maldonado and Austin "⁠Cooper⁠" Abadir combined to give the Brazilians a tougher time of things on Nuke, racing to an 11-4 lead on the CT side before quickly closing out the series following the side swap, 16-7.

A stellar showing from Brehze net Evil Geniuses a win over MIBR

The bout between Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's Evil Geniuses and MIBR saw more contention, needing all three maps to determine a victor. A 10-5 lead at the end of their offensive effort was not enough for EG to claim a win on MIBR's map pick of Vertigo, with Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's AWP and multi-kill rounds from Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo helping the Brazilians claw back and narrowly edge out a 16-14 victory. A stellar showing from Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte allowed Evil Geniuses to bounce back on Dust2, running up a 9-6 lead at the break before they emerged on top of a battle for control in the second half, leading to a 16-13 map win.

The decider of Inferno initially seemed set to be just as close of a brawl as the first two maps, with the two teams remaining within one round of each other at halftime, but once stanislaw's men took control of the pace on the offense, MIBR were left looking out of sorts. Evil Geniuses continually created openings in MIBR's CT setups to dismantle the Brazilian roster, granting them just a single round on the road to a 16-8 victory.

With just three matches left to play, the group standings look as follows:

Group A TEAM M P Evil Geniuses 4 9 Liquid 4 6 100 Thieves 4 6 Swole Patrol 4 6 FURIA 4 6 MIBR 4 3

The match-ups for the final day of play, scheduled for 22:00 , are the following:

Liquid vs. Evil Geniuses
100 Thieves vs. FURIA
Swole Patrol vs. MIBR

100 Thieves #8 Aaron 'AZR' WardJustin 'jks' SavageJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadSean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiJay 'Liazz' Tregillgas Aleksandar 'kassad' Trifunović Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo Age: 25 Team: MIBR Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 1074 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.64 MIBR #24 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoVito 'kNgV-' GiuseppeFernando 'fer' AlvarengaEpitacio 'TACO' de MeloIgnacio 'meyern' Meyer Evil Geniuses #7 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov 100 Thieves #8 Aaron 'AZR' WardJustin 'jks' SavageJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadSean 'Gratisfaction' KaiwaiJay 'Liazz' Tregillgas Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo Age: 28 Team: MIBR Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 1237 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.60 Swole Patrol #39 Ryan 'freakazoid' AbadirVictor 'food' WongEdgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoJordan 'Zellsis' MontemurroAustin 'Cooper' Abadir Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado Age: 21 Team: Swole Patrol Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 538 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66 Liquid #6 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Eric 'adreN' Hoag Evil Geniuses #7 Peter 'stanislaw' JarguzTarik 'tarik' CelikVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov Chet 'Chet' Singh Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte Age: 21 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 890 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.67 Aaron 'AZR' Ward Age: 27 Team: 100 Thieves Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 894 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.69 Time is adjusted to your selected timezone FURIA #11 Henrique 'HEN1' TelesAndrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Nicholas 'guerri' Nogueira Liquid #6 Nick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz Age: 26 Team: Evil Geniuses Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 1071 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.66 FURIA #11 Henrique 'HEN1' TelesAndrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Austin 'Cooper' Abadir Age: 25 Team: Swole Patrol Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 520 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.63