ESL Pro League S16 playoffs day 1 results

The first day of the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 16 went according to plan, in the sense that the two big favorites, FaZe Clan and Team Liquid, won their matches against Complexity and Fnatic respectively. But both of them struggled.

In Liquid’s case the difficulties were expected. Fnatic are a strong team and their performance in group A of this tournament proved their capabilities all too well. Both Natus Vincere and Team Vitality lost a map against them, while Ninjas in Pyjamas and Team Spirit, both of which are in the top 15, lost their entire matches.

The bigger issue is that FaZe Clan, who should have defeated Complexity with ease, nearly lost the match with a score of 2-0 and had to recover from a score of 1-0 and 10-5 at halftime on the second map. The situation was absolutely desperate but FaZe eventually triumphed.

Quarterfinals predictions

FaZe Clan will play against Cloud9 in the quarterfinals and if they don’t improve their strategies, they’re very likely to lose the match. C9 are in great shape right now, as proved by their group stage performance.

The teams they defeated in group D might not have been as strong as FaZe, but then again, FaZe themselves might not be as strong as the FaZe we’ve come to hold in high regard.

It remains to be seen what will happen but back in June, when the two teams met last time, Cloud9 won. The match took place at IEM Dallas, a tournament that was won by Cloud9. This team has a lot more to prove and they’ll probably want to start in this match against the winners of the last CS:GO Major.

The second quarterfinals match will take place between Team Liquid and MOUZ. This should be a tough match for both sides, even though MOUZ seem to be the favorites. In the group stage, Christopher “dexter” Nong’s team won their group (C) against the likes of Heroic, Complexity, ENCE, and Astralis. They only lost against Astralis, who ended up getting eliminated.

We cannot necessarily assess that Liquid’s group was stronger, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens in this match. Most likely, MOUZ will win with a score of 2-1. It’s hard to have any confidence in Liquid until they prove to us that they can win against the world’s best teams and not just the challengers.

The first match will take place on September 29 from 19:00 CET while the second one will take place earlier that day, from 15:30 CET.

Header: ESL