With European RMR B now well underway, unfortunately we say goodbye to the first two teams as the 0-2 matchups have been played.

One of the two teams were quarter and semi finalists at the previous two Majors, so read on to find out more about their early elimination.

A loss of Spirit

Spirit came into the RMR off the back of a disappointing performance at ESL Pro League Season 17. A team that has become synonymous with performances at the Major in recent times, many would have expected them to bounce back in Copenhagen.

Their first two losses came against 500 and Aurora, who, despite strong online form, would have been considered vast underdogs on LAN. While both games were tight, and Spirit started off both games by winning their CT halves, it was their T sides that let them down.

The 0-2 game was to be played against Astralis, the greatest organization in the history of CS:GO that’s playing with a point to prove following the arrival of device for his second stint on the team.

Spirit started strong on Mirage, putting their T side woes behind them as they led 10-5 at half time. With both magixx and s1ren playing well, they went on to take down the Danes 16-10.

Photo: Michal Konkol

Ancient was where things took a turn for the worst, however, as the deadly trio of device, blameF, and Buzz all stepped up to crush Spirit’s usually reliable CT side. A very one sided affair, Astralis took what has become their home map 16-5.

With the decider to be played on Overpass, the map would decide which of the two teams would keep their Major dream alive. device continued strong as Astralis’ CT side decimated the Spirit offense, finishing the first half 25-7 as Astralis earned themselves a 12-3 lead with relative ease.

Despite a valiant effort to claw it back to 15-10, the Danish talisman proved too much to handle for the CIS squadron. As Astralis got the bomb down with ten seconds to spare, device would hit a crisp triple kill with his trust AWP to shut down the retake and win the map 16-10 and his team the series.

A disappointing result for Spirit, they become the first tier one team eliminated from what is sure to prove a gauntlet of an RMR.

Photo: Michael Konkol

Tough run for iNation

Coming in to RMR B, iNation were one of the lesser known teams in a group full of big names. This fact was one that couldn’t have hurt them more though, as they ended up facing German giants BIG, the best team in the world G2, and a resurgent ENCE lineup.

While they put up a valiant effort against BIG for a 16-12 loss on Anubis, they were utterly destroyed by the international squad of G2 on Ancient.

While the team may have been hoping for an easier matchup in their 0-2 game, they wouldn’t get their wish as they were pitted against an ENCE team who had just made semi finals at Pro League following their addition of Nertz.

Photo: Michal Konkol

In their most difficult map yet, the entire ENCE squad were firing on all cylinders as they took down iNation 16-0 on Nuke. Made worse by the fact it was the Serbian team’s map pick, SunPayus and dycha soon made them regret that choice as they dominated on the CT side.

iNation attempted to mount a fightback on Mirage, but ultimately, the strength of a tier one team like ENCE was too much for them. Croatian prodigy DEPREHSN put in a star performance with a 25-19 scoreline, but he was outshone by Nertz who responded with a 31-16 scoreline of his own.

A disappointing result for iNation, they should still be proud of their achievement of making it to the RMR.