Banner Image: Ubisoft / João F. @itsmeERROR
The second week of the Europe League 2024 had two main characters in Team BDS and Team Secret, who are the only two unbeaten sides remaining in the competition.
Both teams currently lead the standings of the Europe League 2024 with twelve and nine points, respectively. Meanwhile, the rest of the teams are extremelly close as the difference between Team BDS and Fnatic (1st and 3rd, six points) is bigger than Fnatic and WYLDE (3rd and 10th, five points).
Here are the main storylines from the Europe League 2024 Stage 1 Week 2!
Team BDS can't be stopped
Following Team BDS championship in Malta and the roster's start to the Europe League 2024, it's fair to say the French-majority roster is Europe's super team.
This week, Team BDS defeated Into the Breach (7-1) and Wolves Esports (7-3) after going flawless on defense. Since the start of the season, the Six Jönköping Major champions have only lost one out of thirteen defensive rounds played.
Individually, Team BDS' players have been dominating the Europe League 2024 standings as four of the five players in the squad can be found among the best ten ratings in the competition — with three of them being among the best five.
Team Secret is Europe's dark horse
Team Secret's changes made in the winter transfer window have completely transformed the squad. The additions of Marc "jume" Steinmann and Adrian "Adrian" Tryka have had the desired effect, as they currently are two of the best four players in the league.
Marlon "Twister" Mello's boys started the week with a surprising 7-5 victory in Virtus.pro's return to action after the Russians' Top 3 finish at the Six Invitational 2024.
Eventually, the roster topped off the week with a 7-3 win against WYLDE, including two 1v1 clutches by Dawid "Gruby" Marciniak and Lucas "Savage" Alves. It's also worth noting that Luiz "Miracle" Abrantes completed an ace on round three.
Four clutches against Fnatic cost team important points
The orange brand started the second week of competition with a 3-7 defeat against Wolves Esports. Starting from defense against the Frenchmen, the clutches by Bastien "BiBooAF" Dulac and Jimmy "DEADSHT" Vojtasik costed Fnatic two crucial rounds as Wolves Esports went flawless on the second half of the match.
Unfortunately for Fnatic, the team went through a similar situation against ENCE. After a great start to the match, the roster reached match point with two rounds left. Eventually, the Finn organization forced the overtime after back-to-back clutches by Hugo "Raikos" Kneip and Christopher "SkyZs" Jauleski.
Despite Fnatic finishing the week with two out of six points, the orange roster will head to the third week of action in third place.
Always clutch ruins G2 Esports flawless week
Following G2 Esports' abrupt defeat against Team BDS in the team's second match of the season, the European powerhouse needed two wins to keep up with the leaders' pace.
The week started well for them as Karl "Alem4o" Zarth and Jack "Doki" Robertson led G2 Esports with a combined amount of 26 kills against ENCE. However, the team's match against Virtus.pro didn't go as smoothly.
G2 Esports' slow start on Clubhouse saw the Russians getting an early three-round advantage while attacking on the German map. As both teams swapped sides, Virtus.pro had a provisional 4-2 lead — a round-difference that's usually difficult to save while attacking on Clubhouse.
Despite the Six Invitational 2023 attempts to complete the comeback, Dmitry "Always" Mitrahovich's 2v1 clutch on the twelfth round of the match cancelled G2 Esports efforts to send the match to overtime. In their third match of the campaign, the Russians clinched their first win since Feb. 21.