Dubai hits second round of groups

The first four matches at ESL ESEA Dubai Invitational are over with EnVyUs, Virtus.pro, fnatic and TSM picking up best-of-one wins to advance to winners' matches.

After dealing with network issues, EnVyUs and Cloud9 kicked off the $250,000 tournament taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on de_cbble.

Cloud9 picked up decent eight rounds as Counter-Terrorists despite losing the first pistol round, but losing the second one as well meant they were destined to have a hard time catching up with the French side.

In the end, with Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer delivering a few close rounds with backstabs, EnVyUs closed it out at 16-12 to send the North Americans down to the lower bracket.

ESL ESEA Dubai Invitational 2015Best of 1 EnvyMatchpage 16 12 10th September 2015 Cloud9 16Cobblestone 12

Envy	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Vincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerHappy	30 - 23	+7	-	1.39
Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK-	25 - 19	+6	-	1.28
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	17 - 13	+4	-	1.05
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	20 - 19	+1	-	1.05
Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieykioShiMa	18 - 20	-2	-	0.96

Cloud9	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbertn0thing	29 - 20	+9	-	1.45
Tyler 'Skadoodle' LathamSkadoodle	20 - 20	0	-	1.02
Mike 'shroud' Grzesiekshroud	20 - 22	-2	-	0.92
Sean 'seang@res' Garesseang@res	12 - 24	-12	-	0.58
Ryan 'freakazoid' Abadirfreakazoid	13 - 24	-11	-	0.53

On the other side of group A, NiP and Virtus.pro were to match up on de_mirage, with the Poles starting strong as Terrorists, picking up the all-important pistol round, as well as both anti-ecos.

Rounds kept going back and forth between the teams, which was putting NiP on bad economy quite often, and Virtus.pro were happy to switch over with eight rounds on the offence.

Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński had a particularly good match, scoring a staggering 1.57 rating after helping his team play a perfect defence for 16-7 overall.

ESL ESEA Dubai Invitational 2015Best of 1 Virtus.proMatchpage 16 7 10th September 2015 Ninjas in Pyjamas 16Mirage 7

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	26 - 14	+12	-	1.57
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	18 - 15	+3	-	1.16
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	19 - 18	+1	-	1.14
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	16 - 13	+3	-	0.96
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	10 - 16	-6	-	0.64

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundGeT_RiGhT	22 - 14	+8	-	1.35
Adam 'friberg' Fribergfriberg	20 - 19	+1	-	1.12
Aleksi 'allu' Jalliallu	18 - 16	+2	-	1.10
Richard 'Xizt' LandströmXizt	9 - 19	-10	-	0.49
Patrik 'f0rest' Lindbergf0rest	7 - 21	-14	-	0.33

de_cbble was once again the map to come out in Titan's battle with the clear favourites of the tournament, fnatic. Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer didn't seem to stop after starting off on the right foot in the first six rounds with 13 frags for 5-1.

Only one more round went Titan's way during the entire half, as olofmeister kept delivering multiple frags nearly every round, to make it 13-2 at halftime.

Soon enough, fnatic closed the map out at 16-6, despite in-game leader's Kévin "⁠Ex6TenZ⁠" Droolans's four-headshot pistol round heroics.

ESL ESEA Dubai Invitational 2015Best of 1 fnaticMatchpage 16 6 10th September 2015 Titan 16Cobblestone 6

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjerolofmeister	29 - 13	+16	-	2.02
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	20 - 7	+13	-	1.53
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	18 - 16	+2	-	1.09
Markus 'pronax' Wallstenpronax	13 - 12	+1	-	0.94
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ	9 - 8	+1	-	0.89

Titan	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Cédric 'RpK' GuipouyRpK	15 - 18	-3	-	0.80
Mathieu 'Maniac' QuiquerezManiac	14 - 18	-4	-	0.76
Kévin 'Ex6TenZ' DroolansEx6TenZ	8 - 17	-9	-	0.65
Richard 'shox' Papillonshox	11 - 18	-7	-	0.59
Edouard 'SmithZz' DubourdeauxSmithZz	8 - 18	-10	-	0.50

The last match-up of the first round was TSM's de_overpass shootout versus Natus Vincere. The Danes secured the first three rounds before Na`Vi replied with one, but economy was against Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács's squad when TSM took the game back in their hands.

Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen scored at least one kill in nearly every round TSM has won, putting his team on a comfortable 9-6 scoreline before switching over to Counter-Terrorists.

He also topped it off with a triple in the second pistol round, putting Na`Vi in an even worse position, which they were unable to come back from despite getting two rounds at seven match points.

ESL ESEA Dubai Invitational 2015Best of 1 TSMMatchpage 16 10 10th September 2015 Natus Vincere 16Overpass 10

TSM	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussendupreeh	28 - 14	+14	-	1.54
René 'cajunb' Borgcajunb	21 - 16	+5	-	1.21
Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethXyp9x	19 - 12	+7	-	1.18
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice	18 - 14	+4	-	1.09
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	16 - 22	-6	-	0.71

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	22 - 21	+1	-	1.04
Ioann 'Edward' SukharievEdward	15 - 20	-5	-	0.78
Denis 'seized' Kostinseized	16 - 21	-5	-	0.76
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' KovácsGuardiaN	13 - 18	-5	-	0.69
Danylo 'Zeus' TeslenkoZeus	12 - 22	-10	-	0.58

ESL ESEA Dubai Invitational continues with group A's winners' match of Virtus.pro and EnVyUs up next, kicking off as soon as both teams are ready.

Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács Age: 24 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 586 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.62 Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer Age: 23 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 495 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.63 Vincent 'Happy' Schopenhauer Age: 23 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 573 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.65 Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen Age: 22 Team: TSM Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 538 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.65 Paweł 'byali' Bieliński Age: 21 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 634 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.64 Kévin 'Ex6TenZ' Droolans Age: 25 Team: Titan Rating 1.0: 0.92 Maps played: 642 KPR: 0.60 DPR: 0.63