M80 fall to G2 in close 2-1 series; join Liquid, Passion UA in 1-2 pool at EPL S23

M80 came into their third series of ESL Pro League Season 23 versus G2 hot off the back of a victory v. NIP in the 0-1 pool. With the potential of rising to a 2-1 record in the online swiss stage, M80 faced off against a struggling G2 squad where despite taking G2 to three maps, M80 suffered a difficult loss to join a litany of NA squads in the 1-2 pool in ESL Pro League Season 23.

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M80 will want to forget about their Overpass pick quickly, as G2 stormed them on the German map. G2 started with a 6-0 lead on the less-favored T side, immediately putting M80 behind the eight ball. The North Americans played the rest of the half even, but that meant G2 held a commanding 9-3 edge. M80 couldn't pull anything back on the CT side as they lost pistol and couldn't stabilize, losing the map 13-3.

Mirage, G2's pick, was a much closer affair. Both sides battled back-and-forth with neither one able to string more than three rounds together in the first half to leave the score deadlocked at 6-6 at halftime. M80 started with three in a row on the T side, G2 replied with three of their own, leaving the map primed for a thriller finish at 9-9. M80 seized all control from there, winning the second map 13-9 to even the series at 1-1.

Moving onto Dust2, the opening half of the final map in the series was an indecisive affair, with the two squads trading minor leads before ending the half even at a 6-6 scoreline. After switching sides, G2 claimed an early 9-7 before running away with their CT-side, as thirteen kills from Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa paved the way for G2 to take the map 13-9 and force M80 down into the 1-2 pool.

ESL Pro League Season 23 Stage 1

Bo3

2 - 1

M80

All maps

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
Álvaro 'SunPayus' García	48 - 25	+23	78.9	80.0%	1.32
Matúš 'MATYS' Šimko	41 - 31	+10	74.8	76.7%	1.20
Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač	39 - 33	+6	75.1	80.0%	1.12
Nikita 'HeavyGod' Martynenko	39 - 33	+6	68.3	73.3%	1.03
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa	43 - 38	+5	76.4	68.3%	1.01

M80	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
Fritz 'slaxz-' Dietrich	38 - 38	+0	64.0	66.7%	1.15
Josh 'JBa' Barutt	42 - 39	+3	63.3	66.7%	1.09
Mason 'Lake' Sanderson	31 - 46	-15	68.9	65.0%	0.90
Michael 'Swisher' Schmid	26 - 44	-18	58.6	65.0%	0.73
Elias 's1n' Stein	23 - 43	-20	50.4	56.7%	0.68