M80 best Nexus in first leg of European tour
M80 have won their first match of their European tour and first series in Counter-Strike 2 with a win over Romanian squad Nexus in CCT East Europe Series 3. The three-mapper saw M80 and Nexus veto down to Vertigo, Ancient, and Overpass, with M80 coming up on top in the veto as Vertigo and Overpass are their best maps at the moment.
Kicking things off on M80's pick of Vertigo, the Romanian squad of Nexus won their opening CT-pistol round and the following round before M80 answered back with four rounds of their own. This would be the last time M80 would in the next on their map pick as Nexus would take five out of the next six rounds to win the half 7-5. Moving into the second half, despite M80 winning their own opening CT-pistol round, Nexus were in complete control on their T-side as they claimed nine out of the next six rounds to take Vertigo 13-9.
Moving into Ancient, one would assume M80 would be in dire straits as they have only played the map once, however the NA squad put up a quite strong CT-side showing, winning their second pistol round of the series before taking the half 8-4. This momentum would continue into the second half with M80 winning their third pistol round, trading the next three rounds, and then surviving a five-round run of rounds from Nexus to take the map 13-11.
With the series tied up and M80 back on home turf, they started their CT-side off in a dominant fashion, winning the first seven rounds before Nexus were able to get on the board. This mattered for little as M80 would ultimately stabilize and take their CT-side 9-3. After switching sides, M80 were quick to find match point at 12-4, before Nexus launched into a somewhat scary comeback. However, after struggling to find their footing for four rounds, Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa took the map 13-8.
Speaking of malbsMd, in the series he was definitely the change maker for M80 as he maintained 101.0 ADR over the course of 67 rounds to end the series with a 1.40 rating.
M80Nexus| M80 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa |
63 - 45 | +18 | 101.0 | 71.6% | 1.40 |
 Adam 'WolfY' Andersson |
50 - 37 | +13 | 80.6 | 74.6% | 1.25 |
| Ethan 'reck' Serrano |
42 - 40 | +2 | 63.8 | 73.1% | 0.98 |
 Marcus 'maNkz' Kjeldsen |
41 - 49 | -8 | 66.0 | 74.6% | 0.96 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
32 - 47 | -15 | 60.2 | 61.2% | 0.80 |
| Nexus |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cosmin 'ragga' Teodorescu |
54 - 45 | +9 | 82.3 | 67.2% | 1.18 |
| Adrian 'XELLOW' Guță |
48 - 37 | +11 | 74.0 | 70.1% | 1.12 |
| Cristi 'smekk-' Flutur |
43 - 53 | -10 | 74.9 | 71.6% | 0.98 |
| Alexandru 's0und' Ștefan |
42 - 50 | -8 | 62.4 | 64.2% | 0.85 |
| Cătălin-Ionuț 'BTN' Stănescu |
31 - 46 | -15 | 55.0 | 59.7% | 0.73 |
With a 1-0 record, M80 will await the rest of round one in the swiss bracket to play out before learning their next opponent.
