M80 sent to lower bracket in Riyadh
Hopes were high to begin the series as M80 looked firmly in control on Vertigo, but they couldn't stop Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut as the European squad came back to secure their pick and then dominant on their own choice of Dust2.
It was also the major LAN debut for Mason "Lake" Sanderson who replaced the outgoing Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa as the Guatemalan secured a transfer to G2 over the summer break.
Expectations are high for Lake, who had a dominant season in ESL Challenger League S47 and was named in Dust2.us' Team of the Season. However a trial by fire against Vitality was too much to handle for the youngster who struggled to find his footing to start off Vertigo.
M80, and Lake, found their groove on their map pick as they continuously kept it competitive throughout regulation. The team were able to keep it near even throughout both halves and even secured a miraculous full-eco round win to put them in prime position to come away with an upset. However, Vitality's experience and ability proved to be more than M80 could handle as the Europeans found a way to steal away M80's map pick.
Dust2 was a much more difficult time for the Americans as Vitality were firmly in control from the get go. While M80 were able to get two pistol round wins on Vertigo, none of that was to be found on this new battleground. Vitality secured an 8-4 first half lead on their T-side and then mopped up M80's attack to take a 13-5 map win and a 2-0 series win.
M80 are now headed to the Lower Bracket where they will be fighting for their lives.
VitalityM80| Vitality |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut |
43 - 21 | +22 | 100.0 | 78.6% | 1.65 |
 Lotan 'Spinx' Giladi |
39 - 25 | +14 | 84.9 | 78.6% | 1.36 |
 William 'mezii' Merriman |
31 - 23 | +8 | 84.6 | 76.2% | 1.35 |
| Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan |
26 - 27 | -1 | 71.6 | 88.1% | 1.18 |
| Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire |
21 - 25 | -4 | 70.3 | 81.0% | 1.06 |
| M80 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Elias 's1n' Stein |
26 - 30 | -4 | 73.4 | 59.5% | 0.88 |
| Fritz 'slaxz-' Dietrich |
28 - 33 | -5 | 77.2 | 64.3% | 0.88 |
 Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
25 - 33 | -8 | 66.7 | 54.8% | 0.79 |
| Ethan 'reck' Serrano |
25 - 33 | -8 | 66.7 | 54.8% | 0.76 |
| Mason 'Lake' Sanderson |
16 - 31 | -15 | 43.2 | 57.1% | 0.57 |
