Spirit topple Falcons in full day of 2-0s - ESL Pro League S24

My word, we've missed the Spodek Arena. Can't every game be in the Spodek?

It's often the true test of who belongs at the top level of Counter-Strike, and today, 1win did not belong.

Aurora continue to improve and impress after a shaky start, with Jimpphat seriously looking the business right now. He's not really meant to be the carry of this team, but his HeavyGod-esque ability to carry from supportive and lurking roles is truly remarkable.

He was electric on the CT side of Anubis as Aurora put up ten and break the spirits of 1win after they'd already lost their own pick, Dust 2 - despite a fantastic ace from fame, who was probably the pick of a mediocre bunch on the Russian side.

Aurora won this almost purely off the back of their CT sides, racking up 18 of 24 available, with both Jimpphat and XANTARES averaging over a kill per round on the defence. Their T sides were nothing special - and might become more of a concern against better opposition - but they were stalwart on the CT side and looked dominant against a 1win team who didn't look up to the level.

nafany called a superb game against Spirit, but Aurora seemed far more prepared for their shenanigans and came away with a rare, comfortable win on stage.

Vitality avoided the three map curse against PARIVISION, becoming the first of six teams to not have to play a deciding map after romping to victory on Inferno.

PARIVISION picked into Inferno and quickly regretted it, as flameZ and mezii eviscerated their attack with consummate ease time and time again. There was no room for control, pace changes, constriction or any of the usual Jame nonsense, because the map was over before any of his mind games could take place. mezii and flameZ just demolished them before they could set up.

Dust 2 was a much closer map, but ZywOo had now been given a map to warm into the playoffs, as he so often needs, and then he just decided it was game over. Whenever things looked dicey, or Vitality needed to win a round to stop things becoming uncomfortable, ZywOo would pick up a multikill, or an untraded opener - and that was on the CT side as PARIVISION started to come back.

It was 9-3 to Vitality at the half, and that was all of the back of ZywOo too. He dragged Vitality to nine, and then dragged them over the line on the other side of the map.

It looked like PARIVISION were going to do their favourite trick of making the game go long, and it takes some serious divine intervention to stop it. In ZywOo, that's what Vitality had.

FURIA's flat second half to the year shows no signs of coming to an end, as MOUZ cleanly beat them 2-0 thanks to an excellent series from PR.

PR was instrumental in MOUZ's eight round haul on Nuke that set them up for a first map win, and despite a bit of a wobble, they converted the lead in round 24, at the third attempt, with both PR and Spinx collecting a pair in that crucial round.

YEKINDAR did what he could, and his 4k just before half time looked like it might have been enough to give FURIA a solid first half, but he was immediately shut down at the start of the next round as MOUZ went straight back to winning ways.

molodoy never really got going, and that is always a bad sign for FURIA. They are a much different team when he's on form and when he's not - and while he was marginally better on Inferno, nobody else was.

After a tight Nuke map went MOUZ' way, Inferno was a blowout. PR and Spinx once more ran the show, while torzsi shut down any ideas FURIA had to stop the rot. FURIA got six largely off the back of molodoy occasionally popping off, but even then it never felt sustainable.

MOUZ are quite simply a level above FURIA right now.

And the piece de resistance, Spirit vs Falcons.

Oh, how we wanted another map.

Mirage started with Spirit on fire, and by Spirit, we obviously mean one man in particular. tN1R. He won a 1v2 in the first gun round at 0-2, and then all three in a 2v3 a few rounds later to put Spirit firmly in the driver's seat. He and magixx collected double to turn a 3v5 into a 3v0, and then he won another clutch to close out the half. He essentially won four rounds for Spirit in the first half alone, as they found themselves 9-3 up on the T side of Mirage.

He was much quieter on the CT side, but then he couldn't really be any louder. The whole of Spirit cooled off as Falcons mounted a mini-comeback, but Spirit stopped them at eight to close out a ridiculous first half showing from the much-maligned tN1R.

Spirit are often reliant on their individuals, but when they're this good, why wouldn't you?

This donk ace tells the story of Anubis. Falcons were in it the whole way, but the kid is just too good. This wasn't his best ever round, or his best ever map, but it would be quite a lot of players' best ever round and map. He crushed Falcons under his boot at every turn, and it's testament to how good Falcons are that they even managed double digits against this force of nature.

Spirit hit 12 in round 18, with Falcons on six, but it looked like karrigan might be working some magic again on stage and powering them to a comeback via fairy dust. Even in the ultimately game-ending round, m0NESY had felled donk, leaving just his minions, but a double from magixx and that man tN1R again sealed their fate and sent karrigan and NiKo out of the Spodek Arena.