ESL Pro League Season 18 is upon us, with over a month of quality CS:GO competitive matches to be played. Some felt that it could be the first-ever Counter-Strike 2 LAN tournament, but now it seems that it will be the last-ever competitive CS:GO tournament, making the stakes higher than ever.
While ESL Pro League Commissioner Alex Inglot feels CS2 won’t be a monumental change for the scene, that doesn’t change the desire to emerge the winners of such an event.
With four Groups in total, there’s plenty to discuss. Without further ado, here’s everything you need to know before ESL Pro League Season 18.
Credit: ESL | Image modified by Daniel Morris
Group A
Up first is Group A of ESL Pro League Season 18. The openers kick off today, With Astralis vs. NIP the game to watch. Of the teams taking part here, Vitality are the clear favorites. That said, we expect Astralis to make a strong run in Group A, and could even come out as winners if they continue their form from IEM Cologne 2023. Pre-tournament, we spoke to Astralis’ Buzz, who felt a deep run would represent good progress here.
Team Vitality
ORKS
Astralis
Ninjas in Pyjamas
FURIA
Movistar Riders
Grayhound
GamerLegion
We want to put some focus on FURIA, too. Since adding FalleN and chelo to the roster, things haven’t quite clicked yet. We’re still holding out hope that there’s a real spark with this Brazilian roster just waiting to explode.
Here’s the schedule for the openers of Group A:
Credit: ESL
Group B
After Group A reaches its conclusion, we move straight to Group B beginning September 6th. We don’t foresee too many surprises here. Heroic should beat Rooster, and Monte, MOUZ, and ENCE should win their games too. CS:GO competitive matches have proven to be unpredictable lately, so who knows for sure? If we’re being honest, it’s difficult to look past Heroic and ENCE as favorites to qualify. They’re two of the best CS:GO teams right now, featuring on opposite sides of the bracket.
Heroic
Rooster
BIG
Monte
MOUZ
MIBR
Evil Geniuses
ENCE
We’ve got one eye on BIG. Although we expect Monte to beat the German team, they did win the recent CCT North Europe Series 7 (against Monte!), so they’re in good form. LAN is a different beast to online, so they’ll need to carry that form over.
From September 6th, here are the first matches in Group B of ESL Pro League Season 18:
Credit: ESL
Group C
Another week later, we get Group C, which has one very interesting prospect. FaZe Clan and NAVI are clear favorites, with the other teams showing little recently that they can overcome the quality difference.
We’re curious about M80, though. More known for its activities in Valorant, Rocket League, and Rainbow Six Siege, the organization entered CS:GO two months ago, picking up some amazing NA prospects in the process. This is their first big LAN, so it’s a huge opportunity to make a splash in the scene.
FaZe Clan
9z Team
Imperial
Fnatic
Apeks
M80
5yclone
NAVI
These are the matches in Group C, beginning September 13th:
Credit: ESL
Group D
ESL Pro League Season 18’s Group Stage concludes with Group D, beginning September 20th. This is definitely a tighter Group, with plenty of great teams. Realistically, you could see any of Cloud9, Liquid, Virtus.pro, or G2 winning Group D. If we’re picking one – it’s G2. There’s no reason to think their form will drop off, so they should have enough to see them through.
Cloud9
Eternal Fire
Complexity
9INE
Team Liquid
Virtus.pro
Lynn Vision
G2
Special mention to Liquid, who will be looking to finally make its mark with the European roster. Overall though, we think it’ll be Cloud9 joining G2. There’s simply too much firepower there to bet against them.
Virtus.pro also represents an interesting option. With Jame at the helm, they continue to unashamedly play their own passive competitive CS:GO, dictating the pace of competitive matches. They gave a good showing at Gamers8, and recently finished runners-up at the PARI Dunav Party 2023 LAN. You’d never see them as favorites, but watch out for Virtus.pro.
Here’s what to expect when Group D starts in late September:
Credit: ESL
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