Elisa Esports organized Elisa Masters Espoo 2023, a Counter-Strike 2 tournament, featuring a prize pool of $200,000 USD. The tournament is taking place at Espoo Metro Arena in Finland and is sponsored by City of Espoo. A total of 8 teams are in this tournament,  which commenced on 29th November. 

The tournament is divided in two phases: Group Stage and Playoffs. Five teams were directly invited, including Complexity Gaming, ENCE, Fnatic, FURIA Esports, and MOUZ.  The remaining 3 teams, GamerLegion, Apeks and HAVU Gaming, made it through Winter Invitational, Summer Invitational, and eSM 2023, respectively. 

What's going on in the tournament? 

All eight teams are divided into 2 groups of four teams each. The opening fixtures of each group featured a best-of-one series followed by best of 3 game series for the remaining games. The top two teams from each group will make it to the Playoffs. The group stage follows double elimination format. 

Group A comprises HAVU Gaming, ENCE, GamerLegion, and Fnatic 
Group B comprises Apeks, Complexity Gaming, FURIA Esports, and MOUZ. 

Currently, Group A is done with most of its matches, only the decider fixture is left. Group B opening fixtures are currently ongoing. Let’s move towards the match recaps. 

Group A Opening matches 

As mentioned above, the opening fixtures of the game were best-of-one series. 

Match 1: ENCE vs HAVU Gaming

HAVU Gaming began with a dominating start and made it a 2-10 lead in the first half.  It was an easy game for HAVU Gaming, the second-half score ended 4-3 and they were able to secure the game with a 6-13 score. 

Match 2: GamerLegion vs Fnatic

GamerLegion began with a lead in the first half with a score of 8-4. The second-half score ended with a 5-4 scoreline which led GamerLegion to victory by 13-8. 

Group A winners match 

HAVU Gaming took on GamerLegion to decide who would secure the first position in the standings. The match was a best-of-3 series and HAVU Gaming was able to triumph in the game. 

• Match 1 result remained in favour of HAVU Gaming as they were able to secure the victory by 13-10. 
• Match 2 was dominated by GamerLegion and they leveled the series by 5-13 victory. 
• Match 3 was a close game but GamerLegion failed to restrict HAVU Gaming as they won by a 13-10 score. 

Finally, HAVU Gaming won the series by 2-1 score. 

Group A Elimination Match

It was a battle of survival for both ENCE and Fnatic. However, the match ended in favor of ENCE as they were able to secure the win by 2-1 in the best-of-3 series. 

• Match 1 score was 7-13 and it was Fnatic who began with a win. 
• Match 2 was totally dominated by ENCE as they won by 13-2. 
• Match 3 score was 13-5 and it was ENCE who clinched the win.