ESL Pro League S18 group A complete results

Group A of ESL Pro League S18 finished yesterday with some very interesting results. Most of what happened was according to everyone’s predictions. But one team managed to surprise us and it wasn’t the one that we believed might prove to be a dark horse.

Ahead of the race, the favorites were considered to be Team Vitality, Astralis, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and FURIA Esports. The potential dark horse was supposed to be GamerLegion. In the end, Vitality, Astralis, and FURIA qualified, along with Movistar Riders, who finished 2^nd.

2-0 against Movistar Riders to get 1st in group A and also a direct quarter final spot. Happy with our results. Cya in 3 weeks#Vforvictory

— Shahar Shushan (@flameZcsgo) September 3, 2023

The winners

For Vitality, this race was extremely easy to win. They played three matches and didn’t lose a single map. In fact, they only lost 13 rounds in total in the first match, 12 in the second one, and 17 in the third. With Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut in top form, nobody can stop the French squad except perhaps for one of the world’s top five teams.

Movistar Riders had a very surprising run that landed them the 2^nd place. To be fair, they weren’t truly tested as they could have been because their first two opponents were FURIA and GamerLegion. But it’s still impressive that they managed to beat both without losing a single map.

Clearly, even after the departure of their superstar, Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia, who joined ENCE and helped them to become one of the best in the world, Movistar Riders are still an excellent team that can defeat many of the top 25 rosters in CS:GO.

Astralis lost their first match against Ninjas in Pyjamas, but then went on to dominate the mid bracket. They defeated ORKS (2-0), GamerLegion (2-0), and FURIA Esports (2-0). In all three matches, the scores were heavily in their favor. Only FURIA managed to be threatening on Nuke (16-13). Apart from that, Astralis faced no real problems.

The team’s deadly duo continues to be effective. Both Benjamin “blameF” Bremer and Nicolai “device” Reedtz are in great shape right now and deliver good performances match after match.

Today, our main CS team secured a spot in the ESL Pro League playoffs when they beat Furia 2-0

Get a recap of the match here: https://t.co/4CRlVcpqy6

— Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) September 2, 2023

After losing against Movistar and Astralis, FURIA had to survive in the lower bracket. This team ended up winning four matches in total at this tournament, defeating Grayhound, NiP, Grayhound again, and finally GamerLegion. Every single one of their victories was a clean 2-0.

With this result, FURIA proved that they have a decent roster. A few more months of training might allow them to start beating even the likes of Astralis.

Header: ESL