Virtus.pro and ECSTATIC eliminated from BLAST Open London

Virtus.pro and ECSTATIC have become the first teams to be eliminated from the BLAST Open London qualifiers.

The Russian and Danish esports organisation failed to advance from Group A during the online phase of the Counter-Strike 2 tournament.

ECSTATIC’s opening Group A clash against a new-look FaZe Clan was always going to be a tricky task for the Danish side. Despite heading into the match as the underdog, ECSTATIC struck first with a strong defensive half to win Overpass with a 13-10 scoreline.

FaZe responded emphatically, dominating Dust II with 13-0 to send the series to a deciding Inferno. Even with Thomas ‘TMB’ Bundsbæk scoring the most damage and the most assists, the Danes were defeated in overtime, dropping into the elimination bracket.

Fnatic would prevent ECSTATIC from remaining in contention to qualify for the LAN playoffs. The Danish defence struggled to hold off Fnatic’s strong attacking rounds, losing Ancient 13-8, putting the team on the verge of elimination.

ECSTATIC’s defence was much stronger on Mirage, ending the first half with a 7-5 lead. The team’s attack was unable to break through Fnatic, failing to win an offensive round in the second half to lose the map 13-7 and the series 2-0, knocking the team out of the tournament at the first opportunity.

Virtus.Pro headed into BLAST Open London looking for a return to form after a Top 16 placement at the Esports World Cup. An opening match against GamerLegion showed signs of promise with some strong attacking strategy, managing to break through the defence.

Although the Russian organisation showed glimpses of potential, GamerLegion’s second-half offence proved superior, taking Dust II 13-7.

A hard-fought Ancient could’ve gone either way, but GamerLegion managed to halt the Virtus Plough with a 13-9 scoreline to send Virtus.pro into the lower bracket.

Waiting Virtus.pro in the elimination match was M80, a team on the cusp of breaking into the top 32 of the Valve Regional Standings (VRS).

A convincing 13-4 win on Overpass put the North Americans on the back foot, but failed to tame M80’s aggression on Dust II to level the series and force a deciding Mirage.

Virtus.pro managed to string a handful of defensive rounds together in the second half of Mirage, putting the team on the verge of completing an unlikely comeback. However, a lurk from Jadan ‘HexT’ Postma managed to sneak under Kaisar ‘ICY’ Faiznurov‘s AWP scope, breaching the defence and sparking a 13-9 victory.

For Virtus.pro, early elimination at BLAST Open London was another disappointing result. The organisation failed to advance from the group stage of IEM Cologne and also crashed out of FISSURE Playground 1.

The group stage action at BLAST Open London continues with the remaining group A and B matches taking place from August 29th to 31st. Three teams from each group will advance to the LAN playoffs, taking place from September 5th to 7th at OVO Arena Wembley in London.

Fans can tune into the action through BLAST’s Twitch and YouTube channels.