Elisa Invitational Group B
Group B of Elisa Invitational starts on Friday 1st of May, 13:00 EEST. Group B consists of Heroic, KOVA Esports, North and Nordavind. The winner of the group claims a spot in the second qualifier final, which is played on Sunday afternoon. Only the last-placed team is eliminated before the playoffs.
North
| Nationality | Age | Player |
| Denmark | 30 | René cajunb Borg |
| Denmark | 25 | Mathias MSL Lauridsen |
| Denmark | 23 | Philip aizy Aistrup |
| Denmark | 21 | Markus Kjaerbye Kjærbye |
| Denmark | 25 | Nicklas gade Gade |
| Sweden | 33 | Jimmy Jumpy Berndtsson (coach) |
North is seeking their way back to top-tier Counter-Strike. Last year was rough, and 2020 hasn’t been looking too good either for the team that won the Dreamhack Masters Stockholm 2018. Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen led the team to take that trophy, but was benched less than a month later after disappointing London Major. MSL came back in January and North is definitely the favorite team to win Group B under his leadership.
Heroic
| Nationality | Age | Player |
| Denmark | 24 | Casper cadiaN Møller |
| Denmark | 20 | Johannes b0RUP Borup |
| Denmark | 21 | Nikolaj niko Kristensen |
| Denmark | 18 | Martin stavn Lund |
| Denmark | 19 | René TeSeS Madsen |
The roster of Heroic has gone through a lot during these last few months. Originally, they should have been part of ESL Pro League Season 11, but their roster was bought by Chinese FunPlus Phoenix to participate in Flashpoint Season 1. However, that wasn’t the whole story.
The deal was never finished, and when Astralis announced Patrick “es3tag” Hansen will join their ranks right after his Heroic contract ends, everything fell apart. Players left Flashpoint and returned to Heroic. After adding René “TeSeS” Madsen and Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen, Heroic wants to come back like they never left.
KOVA Esports
| Nationality | Age | Player |
| Finland | 22 | Samu uli Leirilaakso |
| Finland | 22 | Lauri pietola Hietala |
| Finland | 18 | Samuli twixie Herrala |
| Finland | 23 | Petteri peku Jaakkola |
| Finland | 17 | Nikita derkeps Sirmitev |
Young Finns of KOVA surprised many, when they managed to grind their way to Rio Minor Closed Qualifiers. That wasn’t enough for them though, so they swapped primary AWP in the hands of their entry fragger Nikita “derkeps” Sirmitev. Petteri “peku” Jaakkola had been leading and AWPing at the same time, and the change was definitely for the better. They won the Elisa Viihde Spring Challenge to claim their spot in the Elisa Invitational and now they have a chance to show the strength of their new roles against international teams.
Nordavind
| Nationality | Age | Player |
| Norway | 24 | Jorgen cromen Robertsen |
| Denmark | 23 | Niels-Christian NaToSaphiX Sillassen |
| Estonia | 23 | Kevin HS Tarn |
| Denmark | 25 | Jesper TENZKI Plougmann |
| Norway | 23 | Haris H4RR3 Hadzic |
| Denmark | 32 | Dennis Rytter Rytter (coach) |
Niels-Christian “NaToSaphiX” Sillassen took leading duties while Ruben “RUBINO” Villarroel is recovering from hand surgery. Haris “H4RR3” Hadžić has been standing in for nearly two months. During this time, Nordavind has attended multiple online tournaments, but success has yet to come. They might not be in perfect shape waiting for RUBINO, but they can definitely do damage in their group.
Schedule
Group B is kicked off by KOVA and Nordavind on Friday 1st of May, 13:00 EEST. See the full tournament schedule on Brackets.
| EEST | Team 1 | Team 2 |
| 13:00 | KOVA | Nordavind |
| 14:30 | North | Heroic |
| 16:00 | Heroic | Nordavind |
| 17:30 | North | KOVA |
| 19:00 | North | Nordavind |
| 20:30 | Heroic | KOVA |
