The group stage of the ICE Challenge in London has come to a close. Two teams have been sent home, while six have advanced to the Playoff stage. Some results were expected, others not so much.
mousesports persevere through groups and advance to ICE Challenge Playoffs. (Photo Courtesy HLTV)
Group A
On the surface, Group A was full of one-sided matches. Every single contest ended in a 2-0 sweep. However, multiple 16-14 match scores and an overtime map showed that the results could have gone either way.
Mousesports advance as the first seed. They opened their tournament with a win over MAD Lions. On the Lion’s map of Mirage, the game was neck and neck the whole way through regulation. Once overtime started, it was all mousesports.
Mousesports comfortably took their own map and moved on to the Winners’ match.
Against Virtus.pro, mousesports started off hot. VP’s Vertigo pick went the other direction, putting mousesports on match point. On Train, Virtus.pro came storming back. They had three match points after going up 14-13. However, mousesports were able to pull out three rounds in a row to win 16-14. Mousesports receive a first-round bye in playoffs, while Virtus.pro must play Group B’s third seed in quarterfinals.
In the Elimination round, MAD Lions faced Heroic in a Danish clash. What could have been a tight match turned into a one-sided affair. MAD Lions took their own map 16-13. They then beat Heroic down on Nuke 16-7, the most lopsided match of the group. MAD Lions will play Group B’s second seed.
