ESL Pro League S19 Preview

ESL Pro League S19 is scheduled to take place between April 23 – May 12 in Malta. This CS2 event brings together 32 teams and lasts for three weeks. In that respect, it’s one of the biggest tournaments of the year.

ESL Pro League S19 Format

As usual, ESL Pro League S19 will be played in two stages: four groups of eight teams followed by playoffs. Out of each group, four teams advance to the second stage. The winners go directly to the quarterfinals. The runner-ups go to the Round of 12. The next two teams go to the Round of 16. The bottom 4 teams are eliminated.

What makes the group stage format unique is the triple-elimination system. In order to be eliminated, a team needs to win three times. This makes the format of EPL extremely rigorous. Losing one match could be considered a fluke. But losing three matches clearly indicates that the team who lost did not deserve to advance.

The playoffs stage is the exact opposite. Here, each team has just one life. At the first loss, they get eliminated. This makes the competition more exciting for the fans, but it’s certainly not exciting for the teams because they know how difficult it is to win every single match.

In order to win the entire tournament, a team that finishes the group stage in 3^rd – 4^th place will have to win five consecutive matches in the playoffs. One that finishes 2^nd will have to win just four. And one that wins the group will have to win just three. But even three matches is a lot when there is no room for error.

The whole event will be played offline.

Prizes

The prizes offered by ESL Pro League S19 are not that spectacular because the number of participants is high and the total prize pool is $750.000. The winner gets $170.000, the runner-up receives $80.000, while the bottom four teams get just $3.500 each.

The top eight teams receive BLAST Premier points. The winner gets 2000 while the 5^th – 8^th place teams get 275.

The tournament winner also gets a direct invitation to IEM Cologne 2024.

Participants

In light of a roster change we made a decision to withdraw from ESL Pro League Season 19.

We’ll be back in action at Esports World Cup: EU Qualifier later this week. https://t.co/WcKjsxik2S

— Cloud9 CS (@C9CSGO) April 15, 2024

Here are the 32 teams that will compete in  ESL Pro League Season 19:

• FaZe Clan
• Imperial Esports
• 3DMAX
• SAW
• Virtus.pro
• Fnatic
• Eternal Fire
• Astralis
• G2 Esports
• TYLOO
• Team Vitality
• Sharks Esports
• The MongolZ
• Team Falcons
• BetBoom Team
• M80
• Monte
• FORZE Esports
• MOUZ
• Bad News Kangaroos
• GamerLegion
• ENCE
• Team Liquid
• FURIA Esports
• Natus Vincere
• FlyQuest
• Complexity
• Pera Esports
• HEROIC
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• BOSS
• BIG

Header: ESL