Image: Ubisoft/Kirill B.
Here is how Day 4 of the EUL looked like:
- TT9 Esports 5-7 Natus Vincere
- Team Secret 4-7 Outsiders
- G2 Esports 2-7 Rogue
- Team BDS 7-4 Heroic
- Wolves Esports 7-2 MNM Gaming
Play of the day: eXoduSS impact grenade 1v3 clutch
TT9 Esports struggled for most of their match against NAVI, but were looking to force overtime after their opponents began slipping up. Unfortunately for them, it seemed like their resistance was at an end when NAVI swept into the bomb site and Anatoly "eXoduSS" Martynov was left on the first floor, alone.
That, however, proved to be a boon for TT9's hopes. EXoduSS had two impact grenades left ins his pocket and used them to great effect. Even though Jordan "Kayak" Morley tried to ward off the danger by planting the defuser on top of the bed, and thus was safe from a hole made directly below him, it was not enough.
Good information from TT9 allowed eX0duSS to take his time, even miss a first impact grenade, before throwing a second one and shooting Kayak to keep his team's hopes alive for one more round.
Player of the day: LikEfac
This accolade could have easily gone to Pascal "cryn" Alouane as well, who actually had the highest SiegeGG Rating on Day 4 of the EUL at 1.61. He helped his team to a massive win over G2 Esports, dominating the match in a way they had even struggled to at the Berlin Major.
But -- and not for the first or last time, we wager -- Théo "LikEfac" Mariano was the player of the day, finishing with a SiegeGG Rating of 1.60. While he was rated 0.01 points less than cryn, his 15-6 K-D, 1-0 Entry, 91% KOST, and 1.36 kills per round on average were all slightly better than cryn, who only beat him in survival rating.
LikEfac also delivered against a very tough team in Heroic, who were EUL leaders before BDS clashed with them. He was tipped to be a decisive factor in the match in the SiegeGG preview and he certainly delivered, shooting up to the top of the SiegeGG Rating, K-D, and Entry leaderboards in the EUL.
Surprise of the day: CTZN
Ben "CTZN" McMillan was certainly a surprise on the fourth day of the EUL, but not how fans expect him to be.
While he is often tearing through any and all opposition, racking up kills and driving G2 Esports forward, he looked shockingly poor against Rogue. CTZN only finished with a total of four kills in the nine rounds played, dying eight times.
Three of his four kills came in one of the two rounds G2 won and his low 22 percent KOST figure reflected how effectively Rogue shut him out of the game.
This is, of course, an anomaly for CTZN, who has secured a SiegeGG Rating of 1.19, a 70 percent KOST, and a 187-139 K-D in the past three months. He usually performs well individually, even if his team loses. As a result of his own high standards, his performance in the loss to Rogue was particularly shocking.
Top moments of the day
Here's a quickfire rundown of other top moments in the EUL yesterday.
Outsiders are looking like they have a long-term future
Outsiders may only be in sixth place in the EUL league table, but they are only one point behind Berlin Major champions Rogue and three points behind league leaders Team BDS.
Their win against a quickly-improving Team Secret was evidence that their own development has been extremely rapid, despite their triple roster change prior to the start of Stage 3. The roster change, of course, saw the former Team Empire trio Dmitry "Always" Mitrahovich, Danila "dan" Dontsov, and Danil "JoyStiCK" Gabov join.
The former two, who are playing for Outsiders now, have clearly not lost touch despite being away from tier-one play for the better part of the year. With their additions, Outsiders now look like they have a long-term future and could potentially begin challenging for a Major-qualification berth as soon as this stage itself.
Amision has rare off-day
TT9 Esports got agonizingly close to a point in Stage 3 once more, having also lost to Heroic 5-7 the week prior. Former Virtus.pro player Pavel "Amision" Chebatkov was a player whose abilities were missed this week against NAVI, as he had a rare off-day.
Prior to this match, Amision was the second-best player by SiegeGG Rating in Stage 3 of the entire EUL despite his team's struggle. He was also third-best by SiegeGG Rating in Stage 2, even though his team finished in last place with just eight points -- almost a third of Stage 2 toppers Wolves Esports.
Yesterday, however, the Russian was the worst player on his team. He struggled to a 5-10 K-D, a 0-3 Entry, and only lived in 17 percent of the rounds played.
Shiinka has a perfect game
Conversely, Wolves' Axel "Shiinka" Freisberg had a perfect match yesterday against MNM Gaming.
The Frenchman finished with a 100 percent KOST, indicating he had an impact in every single round played -- whether it was by getting a kill, planting the defuser, surviving until the end of a round, or getting his death traded by a teammate.
This, combined with a 7-3 K-D, one clutch, and two defuser plants made him the best player in the match by SiegeGG Rating.