The ESL Pro League is in full swing. While in group A and B more or less everything goes its expected course, there are two Brazilian surprises in group C.
Group A, the 17th edition of the ESL Pro League Season that has been running since 22 February, went as expected for fans and experts.
The trio around G2 Esports, the Outsiders and Cloud9 prevailed for the most part without any problems. Fnatic, which was the top-ranked roster in the HLTV rankings compared to the other four remaining teams, namely Eternal Fire, IHC Esports, MIBR and the Evil Geniuses, also lived up to expectations and qualified via the Lower Bracket Final for the playoffs starting on 21 March.
With ESLProLeague Season 17 Group A concluded check out the bracket to see how our 4 teams made the playoff stage! 👇 pic.twitter.com/zdpRfT6u6j
– ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) February 27, 2023
For Group B, the predictions as to who would make it to the final round were much more difficult to make. Only Heroic, the world’s No. 2, seemed set. Behind them were MOUZ, FURIA Esports, the BIG Clan and Complexity Gaming, four top 16 teams that could legitimately hope to advance.
Of all teams, BIG Clan narrowly missed qualifying for the playoffs in the end. Not, however, against one of the three other favoured squads, but against the first surprise team of the tournament, the Movistar Riders. But not only the Berliners, also Complexity Gaming, which has been playing very well lately and is now ranked 11th in the world, failed early on.
MOUZ, FURIA and, of course, Heroic lived up to their status as favourites and booked their tickets to the next round.
Group B of ESLProLeague Season 17 has concluded!
Check out the full bracket to see how our 4 qualified teams made it through 👇 pic.twitter.com/wJTRBjpmzV
– ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) March 5, 2023
In Group C, the favourites went by the names of FaZe Clan, Team Vitality, Ninjas in Pyjamas and OG.
While FaZe and Vitality both made it to the finals of the Upper Bracket without any problems and undefeated and thus both qualified for the playoffs, NiP and OG had a much harder time.
Both lost their games in the Mid Bracket Semifinal against paiN Gaming (OG) and the Australian roster of the Greyhounds (NiP) and thus surprisingly met in the Lower Bracket Semifinal. In this do-or-die match, the Ninjas prevailed 2-0, but also had to say goodbye to the dream of qualification in the fight for the last remaining play-off ticket when they gave away the decisive last game against 00 Nation after leading 1:2.
The Brazilian double surprise was thus perfect. Both paiN Gaming (ranked 30th in the world at the time) and 00 Nation (ranked 47th!) are now in the play-offs.
That was all for Group C at ESLProLeague S17! 🙌
Check out how our four teams made it out of the group and into the Playoff Stage 👇 pic.twitter.com/tCwXyjYgwV
– ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) March 12, 2023
OG, which is currently still ranked 8th in the world, will most likely face upheaval after its disappointing exit. The experiment of taking out established in-game leader Nemanja “nexa” Isaković before the tournament and replacing him with Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen has been a resounding failure.
Once again, the Ninjas in Pyjamas will have to ask themselves whether their current roster is up to the task of being a top team.
12 teams qualified – 4 places remain
The ESL Pro League continues tomorrow, Wednesday at 16:00, when Group D kicks off the battle between the remaining eight teams for the last four playoff tickets.
The favourites to advance are the Top 3 team from Team Liquid, as well as Natus Vincere around superstar Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev. The remaining two tickets will most likely be decided by the trio consisting of Astralis, Team Spirit and ENCE.
But the events in Group C alone have shown that even smaller teams, such as Rare Atom, ATK and forZe in this case, have a chance to achieve their dream of a play-off spot in the ESL Pro League.
