ESL Pro League S16 group B predictions

Group A of ESL Pro League S16 ended with a lot of upsets and group B promises to be just as exciting. The matches will take place between September 7-11 and some of the best CS:GO teams in the world, including FaZe Clan and G2 Esports, will be involved in them.

Other teams that will be interesting to watch are FTW Esports and BIG. In FTW’s case, everyone is curious about the level of Portuguese CS:GO. We rarely get the opportunity to see this country send a team to a top tournament like EPL S16, and there’s a decent chance that they will cause some upsets.

Group favorites

Obviously, it’s hard to not regard FaZe Clan as the biggest favorites in this group. Even though Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s team no longer occupies the number one position in the global rankings table, they are still a terrifying opponent to play against.

At this competitive level, only G2 Esports and BIG have a realistic chance of winning against them. Other teams, such as OG and Heroic, have already demonstrated that it can be done. But it’s extremely difficult and to some degree, success depends upon FaZe making uncharacteristic mistakes. On a normal day, the odds of an upset are slim.

Another great team to cheer for in group B of ESL Pro League S16 is G2 Esports. This year, we’ve mostly seen G2 losing key matches and failing to compete in Grand Finals of S-tier tournaments. But week after week, we get a feeling that Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov is about to reach his full potential and start playing at the level of Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev.

Over the last few months, G2 lost against Ninjas in Pyjamas, Natus Vincere, Team Liquid, Team Vitality, and a lot of other top teams. But they also won matches against competitors of similar strength. So it’s clear that the main issue in their case is consistency. The potential for greatness is there, but subtle strategic errors often ruin the outcome.

Just like group A, group B of EPL S16 has three spots reserved for the playoffs. The winner will qualify for the quarterfinals while the second and third place teams will go to the round of 12. We know who the top two teams are likely to be. But it’s not clear at all who will finish third.

BIG used to be ranked seventh globally just a few months ago. If they could play as well as they did at Roobet Cup 2022, their spot in the playoffs would be guaranteed.

Header: ESL