ESL Pro League S19 Group A Results

Group A of ESL Pro League S19 ended with a lot of predictable results but also an upset.

Astralis, FaZe Clan, and Virtus.pro were expected to qualify for the playoffs. But the fourth qualified team was supposed to be Eternal Fire, who unfortunately got eliminated. Their place was taken by 3DMAX, who made a very good impression so far.

Astralis

Check out all the highlights from our boys’ dominant win against 3DMAX 💪🔥@jabbiCS was outstanding today, boasting a crazy 2.15 rating on Ancient 👀https://t.co/Fmfk68K3mj

— Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) April 27, 2024

Astralis won three consecutive matches and the group, defeating Eternal Fire, FaZe Clan, and 3DMAX without losing a single map. The Danes continue to improve with dev1ce as their new IGL, which is a sign that we might soon see them in Grand Finals and perhaps even winning trophies.

What seems to be helping the team a lot is the fact that br0 is quickly learning how to compete at this professional level while dev1ce, despite having IGL duties, is able to maintain his excellent individual scores. Right now, it almost feels like Astralis are playing with six men instead of five.

3DMAX

3DMAX were ranked 30^th at the start of ESL Pro League S19 but they’ve demonstrated that they have great potential. This French roster defeated SAW and Fnatic in the group stage before losing to Astralis.

The playoffs will be played using the single-elimination format and 3DMAX will start in the Round of 12. There’s a high chance that they will get eliminated right away, but they do have the capacity to surprise us.

FaZe Clan

Qualified for playoffs 🔥

— karrigan (@karriganCSGO) April 26, 2024

FaZe Clan lost in the second round against Astralis and that ruined their chances of advancing directly to the quarterfinals.

Nevertheless, they won against Virtus.pro and Eternal Fire in the mid bracket, so we will see them in the playoffs. They’ll have to win five consecutive matches to win another trophy, which seems difficult. But for a team like them, it’s definitely not impossible.

Virtus.pro

VP finished fourth in group A after getting defeated by Fnatic and FaZe Clan, and winning against SAW, Fnatic (in the rematch), and SAW (for the second time).

It seems that despite signing electroNic, they still have some problems to fix. Of course, it is still a bit too early to speak about their potential because they’ve had too little time to train and integrate their newest player. In a few months, we will know if the signing changed anything for them or not.

Header: ESL