Taking place on LAN as a part of the DreamHack Dallas festival, the group stage for the inaugural season of the ESL Impact League has completed, determining the four teams moving on to the playoffs of the Finals. Historical favorites CLG Red and Nigma Galaxy both advanced in first place from their groups, but not without some close calls.
Both squads went to overtime in the winners’ match, but were able to come out on top in the end. Taking up the remaining two playoffs spots were the newly-signed BIG EQUIPA as well as FURIA fe, who took down Black Dragons fe and Please Send Help, respectively, to advance.
ANa carried Nigma Galaxy to victory over FURIA fe
While the Oceanic representation was immediately outclassed by the other teams in Group A, Black Dragons fe surprised many by taking down BIG EQUIPA in the best-of-one initial match. However, once they met again in the decider game, the European side took their revenge and advanced to the playoffs after two close maps.
Group B saw an even larger parity gap as both Nigma Galaxy and FURIA fe both dominated their initial matches, with South African side ATK fe not managing a single round against the European powerhouse. North American representatives Please Send Help put up more of a fight in the deciding match than they had in their initial game, but ultimately still fell to the Brazilians in FURIA fe.
The playoff matches are set to kick off on Sunday at the same time as the IEM Dallas grand final. Here is the full bracket schedule:
18:00 –
CLG Red vs.
FURIA fe | Bo3
21:00 –Nigma Galaxy vs.
BIG EQUIPA | Bo3
01:00 – Grand final | Bo3
