Legacy pull off a surprise 3-0 over PARIVISION - ESL Pro League S23

Legacy seem to be having one of those tournaments again.

They've forged themselves three very legit wins to go 3-0 in the first stage of ESL Pro League, with today's 2-0 over PARIVISION probably the most impressive of the bunch.

arT is having one hell of a redemption arc after his unceremonious exit from FURIA, and few would have predicted this come-up. He's not just been a leader with his calling but with his crosshair as well, albeit less pointlessly aggressive than you probably remember. We can't argue with these wins, and we're intrigued to see if Legacy are here to stay this time.

PARIVISION continue to be plagued by inconsistency from their star, with nota once more having a pretty big off-game. It's hard to argue that they'd win what were two tight maps had he shown up a bit more - especially on Dust 2, where both he and Jame were nowhere to be seen.

They'll be joined in the 3-0 bracket by FUT, who absolutely smashed Astralis on Overpass and looked to be doing the same on Mirage, much to the chagrin of HooXi, who was caught on comms 'whining', as his coach ruggah so succinctly described it.

They mounted something of a comeback in that map, but fell short 13-11 as Krabeni had the game of his life (or at least this tournament), ending 43-25. If the IGL can play like this while calling this tightly, Krabeni is going to be hotly pursued by many a team - not least Team Liquid. More on them in a bit.

Astralis have been very impressive thus far on Overpass, so to see them so soundly beaten 13-3 makes us think FUT might be one of the most terrifying 'underdog' teams in a while. Hell, they're not underdogs any more. They're just a top 10 team.

Is that brave?

Team Liquid might have beaten Semper Fi, but bloody hell was it a struggle.

They lost their own map pick to the Aussies (with two Latvians) to miss out on a much-needed 2-0 win, and it wasn't even close either. ADDICT and keen gave them the run around on Mirage, and all of the old critiques came to the surface. It's hard to make an argument for any of the players at this point in time. EliGE was easily the pick of the bunch, so maybe he can hold his head high, but he won't knowing how poor this game was.

They at least didn't lose the series (though when they went 10-2 up on the third map and let Semper Fi get to 9, we did get concerned), but we have no faith in them winning tomorrow.

Mind you, last time we thought that it was FaZe at the Major...

NIP just about stayed alive in another really long series, with the decider going to overtime after NIP lost their own map pick while 1-0 up. We'd love to be more positive about them as well, but they just look disjointed. This should have been so much cleaner.

Someone woke SunPayus up finally, and we got to see a glimpse of the guy who carried Movistar Riders to top 5 quite a few years ago. He was unstoppable today as G2 gave us hope once more, beating an M80 team who have really cemented themselves as a tough team to get one over on.

The NA squad stole Mirage off of G2, which is no mean feat not least after getting schooled on their own pick, but fell just short on Dust 2. They can be proud of how they played, though we know their ambitions are higher than impressive losses.

Passion UA find themselves in the 1-2 bracket following a bit of a anti-climactic finish to the game against paiN. PUA looked as terrifying as ever on Overpass, but found themselves 10-2 down after their T side on Mirage, and that ain't gonna cut the mustard. New boy piriajr was absolutely pivotal in both won maps, and looks like he might be able to be an X factor for this team.

Monte won a marathon series against HEROIC, which is a weird thing to say about a 2-0 win, but it seemed to take forever. There were over 80 rounds played in that 2-0, in our defence. Rainwaker and Bymas' resurgence has been extremely fun to watch, and the former was in electric form today, constantly finding frame perfect timings and executing with aplomb to drag Monte over the line twice. A shout-out too to Gizmy, who has taken over calling, and was terrific in the last map with over 40 kills.

3DMAX 2-0'd Gaimin Gladiators, as expected, but it's nice to see GG put up a fight and take them to OT on map two, albeit it doesn't breed too much confidence in 3DMAX.

You can find the list of tomorrow's games here.