ESL Pro League S17: Group D preview

The ESL Pro League will return tomorrow with Group D matchups, featuring eight of the top CS:GO teams in a power struggle for the four playoff spots.

It’s time to get ready for another epic CS:GO battle between the eight teams of Group D after the ESL Pro League’s Group C concluded with four teams clinching their spots in the playoffs. There are many fan favorites in the group, including Natus Vincere, Liquid, and Astralis. Before the competition starts, here’s a quick overview of the contenders, including the favorites who are most likely to advance to the next round:

All participating teams of Group D 

• Natus Vincere
• Team Liquid
• Rare Atom
• Astralis
• ENCE
• Team Spirit
• forZe
• ATK

The group’s favorites

NAVI will enter the competition as the undisputed fan favorite after placing in the top four at the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023. Even though the team will be playing with Andrij “npl” Kukharsjkyj, a less experienced player, the team has developed a strong synergy together as evidenced by their performance in a recent outing.

The Ukrainian club has been trying to win a title since July, and Denis “electroNic” Sharipov, who serves as the team’s in-game leader, will try his best to end the drought at the Maltese event. Meanwhile, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev, the Ukrainian CS:GO prodigy, will try to stir up trouble for opponents as he attempts to make it to the top of the leaderboard.

The next team in line to most likely secure a playoff spot is Team Liquid. The North American team is in great shape right now, and they performed even better than NAVI at their recent outings. Liquid’s performance has improved dramatically since Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gainskis joined the team, making them a formidable opponent and a leading contender for any CS:GO event.

They made impressive runs at all three Blast Premier events in the second half of the 2022 season. The finest of them came at BLAST Premier: World Final 2022, where the team finished second and took home $250,000 in winnings.

The North American team will open its Pro League campaign against Rare Atom, China’s top CS:GO team and a potential playoff contender. Recently, the Chinese heavyweight won the 5E Arena Asia Cup 2023, guaranteeing its spot in the Blast Premier Spring Showdown.

The dark horses

The Danish CS:GO fans can look forward to an action-packed performance from Astralis now that their star player Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz is gaining steam. The Danish rifler put on an exceptional performance at CCT North Europe Series #3, where he helped his team win the title with an undefeated run in the playoffs. 

Team Spirit is another top contender for a playoff spot, but they must overcome profound challenges to do so. The Russian team that won the FiReLEAGUE 2022: Global Finals and secured a top-eight finish at IEM RIo Major, will now have to overcome some of the finest CS:GO teams to advance their campaign at the Maltese events.

ENCE is also capable of overcoming the competition and making it through the playoffs, but much depends on high-profile player Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia, who has been relatively quiet during the past three months. The squad had a dismal start to the year as they lost to North American teams Cloud9 and Complexity twice in a row and were eliminated from the play-in stage of the IEM Katowice. 

The squad led by Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer showed signs of improvement during the CCT Central Europe Malta Finals when they handily defeated Team Spirit and SunPayus’s former team Eternal Fire.

The underdogs 

ATK and forZe will both have a fair chance of qualifying but they will enter the contest as underdogs. The Russian team forZe has been active in CS:GO for a while, making waves with their miraculous runs from time to time. The team was able to enter the top-tier scene after qualifying for PGL Major Antwerp 2022, but they were unable to establish themselves there effectively.

As far as their current form is concerned, the Russian team had a terrible showing in the CCT Central Europe Malta, where their run ended abruptly in the group stage with a 1-2 record. The squad did exhibit some promise in the ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023: European Qualification, where they narrowly missed a place in the main event.

ATK, on the other hand, is a relatively new team in the top-tier CS:GO scene, but they have won multiple B-tier competitions, including the ESEA Cash Cup: North America and the 42nd season of the ESL Challenger League. CS:GO history is filled with fascinating Cinderella runs, so seeing the underdog team pull out an upset against CS:GO powerhouses will not be that surprising.

Header: Blast Premier