ESL Pro League S18 Group C predictions

The first two groups of ESL Pro League S18 ended with major upsets but group C is likely to go according to plan.

In group A, GamerLegion and Ninjas in Pyjamas were eliminated. In group B, Heroic were the ones to suffer the consequences of being out of shape. In group C, it would take a lot for either FaZe Clan or Natus Vincere to lose three best-of-three matches against opponents like 9z Team, Imperial Esports, M80, and 5yclone.

Most likely both of these teams will prove to be strong enough to compete in the upper bracket final. The winner will skip the first two rounds in the playoffs, which is very helpful when trying to win the trophy. The second stage of the tournament will use the single-elimination format, which practically means that one defeat means you’re out.

Week 3 of #ESLProLeague Season 18 begins tomorrow with Group C!@FaZeClan @natusvincere @apeksgg @FNATIC @imperialesports @M80gg#5yclone@9zTeam

With former champions and first timer’s Camp Counter-Strike is sure to be action packed this week 🏕️ pic.twitter.com/lSCKfzDDzA

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 12, 2023

Group C participants and favorites

Group C of ESL Pro League S18 is scheduled to take place this week and the eight teams that compete in it are listed below:

• FaZe Clan
• 9z Team
• Imperial Esports
• Fnatic
• Apeks
• M80
• 5yclone
• Natus Vincere

The top four favorites are FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, Fnatic, and Apeks. If everything goes according to plan, this will be the order in which they will qualify for the playoffs. If something goes wrong, they will most likely swap places between themselves.

It’s very hard to imagine any of the other four teams causing a serious upset here. None of them have achieved anything major in recent months and the strength difference is huge in every single matchup.

Individually, players like Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Robin “ropz” Kool are vastly better than the members of teams like M80. In a best-of-one format, there is a small chance that the underdog will surprise a top team with some really unexpected tactics on a map that they don’t play very well.

But in the Bo3 format, that’s simply not possible. If you want to win, you need to demonstrate twice that you’re the better competitor.

If anything, we expect the matches between favorites and underdogs to finish with a 2-0 score and not last very long. Anything above 10 round wins for these teams would be a miracle. We shouldn’t be surprised to see scores like 16-6 quite frequently in this group, which is by far the easiest of the four.

Header: ESL