ESL Pro League Season 14 Preview

ESL One Pro League Season 14 is the last big CS:GO tournament until the PGL Major that will take place at the end of October. This is not exactly a Major, but it’s almost as important. With $750,000 in prizes, one month of action and 24 participants, ESL One Pro League Season 14 is definitely one of the unmissable esports events of this season.

ESL One Pro League Season 14 Details

ESL One Pro League Season 14 is scheduled to take place between August 16^th – September 12^th. The competition will be held exclusively online, on a European server.

Competitive Format

The competitive format of the tournament includes two stages. For the Group Stage, the 24 teams will be divided into 4 groups of 6. Each group consists of a round-robin. All matches are Bo3. The winner of the group advances to the Quarterfinals. The 2^nd and 3^rd place teams advance to the Round of 12.

The Playoffs Stage consists of a single-elimination bracket. All matches are Bo3, apart from the Grand Final, which is Bo5.

Prizes

The $750,000 prize pool will be divided among the 24 participants in the following way:

• 1^st place: $175,000
• 2^nd place: $60,000
• 3^rd – 4^th place: $30,000
• 5^th – 8^th place: $13,750
• 9^th – 12^th place: $10,000
• 13^th – 16^th place: $7,000
• 17^th – 20^th place: $5,000
• 21^st – 24^th place: $3,000

Participants

These are the 24 teams that will take part in ESL One Pro League Season 14:

Group A

• Heroic
• Astralis
• Team Vitality
• Team Spirit
• ENCE
• Bad News Bears

The favorites in this group are Astralis, Heroic, and Vitality. In particular, I expect Astralis to shine as they usually do during the Group Stage of all important events. The team is probably more relaxed now after gla1ve decided to sign a new contract for another 3 years. Another thing that helps is the result from the recent IEM Cologne (3^rd – 4^th).

We’ve yet to see what Heroic and Vitality can do. Both teams have impressive rosters but in recent months, their performance was weaker than expected. Heroic finished 9^th -12^th at IEM Summer and 7^th – 8^th at IEM Cologne. Vitality did slightly better at IEM Summer (3^rd – 4^th) but failed when it mattered most – at IEM Cologne, where it was eliminated relatively early (9^th – 12^th). So far, the addition of Kyojin to the roster has proved to be an ineffective move.

Group B

• G2 Esports
• pro
• Complexity Gaming
• OG
• forZe
• Sinners Esports

G2 and Virtus.pro should have no problems in this group. The only question is: who is going to win the race and secure that sweet Quarter Finals spot? So far, all the statistics indicate that NiKo’s team is the clear favorite.

The 3^rd spot is up for grabs. The battle will take place between OG and Complexity. Both teams are strong relative to each other, so we should expect a tough match.

Group C

• Natus Vincere
• FaZe Clan
• BIG
• mousesports
• Evil Geniuses
• Fnatic

If you would have shown this group to someone who has missed the last two years of competitive CS:GO, they would not understand how this is possible. What are all of these giants doing in the same group? But the fact is that Na’Vi and FaZe are far stronger than the other 4. Most CS:GO players are no match for s1mple and sometimes you need at least 3 players to neutralize him alone. However, these days Na’Vi has more than one superstar to rely on.

The 3^rd best team on this list seems to be mousesports. But they’re roughly on par with BIG, so it won’t be easy for them to qualify. The direct match between the two of them is likely to determine the outcome. As for EG and Fnatic, they have no chance whatsoever in their current form.

Group D

• Gambit Esports
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• FURIA Esports
• Team Liquid
• Entropiq
• Team One

Gambit only needs to be on the server and victory is assured. Entropiq and Team One have zero chances to qualify. The battle for the 2^nd and 3^rd place will be fought between NiP, FURIA, and Liquid. And as far as statistics go, NiP is likely to finish 2^nd while Liquid is likely to finish 3^rd. But only if Stewie2K plays his A-game.

Liquid’s been struggling for almost 6 months to find good results and their victory at cs_summit 8 does not remedy the situation. However, it does prove that the NA team is better than FURIA in direct matchups. This gives them an important advantage.

 

Photo credit: IEM|Stephanie-Lindgren