Saints fumble again; EG Gold get going in ESL Impact Season 3 NA

The third week of ESL Impact Season 3 North America was full of 2-0 scores and unbalanced results as the group stage reaches halfway.

Only a miracle run from the 1-2 teams would get CLG Red and Detonate SparX out of the playoffs for the LAN Finals spot, as both teams have 3-0 records and a win this week will clinch their presence in Impact playoffs.

Group A has been the most competitive out of the two, mainly because it has two of NA's best teams, CLG Red and Saints, and one of the best upcoming rosters, Shimmer. Despite this, the last week was very one-sided, as CLG Red took not too long to defeat byte 2-0, with 16-4 and 16-11 maps, with Mounira "GooseBreeder" Dobie showing her head-clicking skills with 48 kills.

The other series was between Shimmer and Saints and it was also a quick one. Two very similar results, 16-7 and 16-8, would see Saints fall to a 1-2 record in a series where Lynn "Lx" Clarke shone with a 1.49 rating. Saints have been going through a rough patch after losing the very impactful AWPer Paula "paula" Ramanauskas and Jessica "JKranny" Kranabetter.

Over on Group B, the results were the same, 2-0 in both games, but the stories of the series were different. EG Gold completely shut down Starfish with back-to-back 16-4 maps, with Kiara "m1lky" Makua taking care of most frags with 42. Starfish have not been able to get more than four rounds per map against EG Gold and SparX, but were able to win 2-0 against Factor Ruby previously.

Talking about SparX, the newly-signed team is continuing to silence the doubters, as another series is won in a dominant fashion. After a 16-10 Vertigo win where Factor Ruby showed a somewhat good T-side, Detonate's women's squad completely destroyed its opposition on Inferno 16-2, after a 13-2 T-side half. Andrea "Andrea" Bracewell neared a 50-bomb, but fell one frag short of the mark.

This week's matches start at 07:30PM and they are:

A win here for CLG Red and Detonate SparX would clinch the top seeds of their respective groups as they head into playoffs to determine the final spots at ESL Impact League Season 3 Finals in Dallas.