ESL Pro League S18: Group C Overview
We are half way through the group stages of ESL Pro League: Season XVIII and we will see 4 more teams qualifying to the playoffs from the third group of the EPL. The winner of each group gets to advance all the way to the quarter-finals securing them a top 8 finish while the runner-up gets to skip a round as the 3rd and 4th place seeds will face off against each other and run through the whole playoff bracket.
Playoff brackets overview. Courtesy: HLTV
Group Participants:
The Group C of ESL Pro League Season 18 will feature the following the teams:
Faze Clan (HLTV Ranking #5)
Natus Vincere (HLTV Ranking #9)
Imperial Esports (HLTV Ranking #17)
Fnatic (HLTV Ranking #15)
Apeks (HLTV Ranking #16)
M80 (HLTV Ranking #49)
5yclone (HLTV Ranking #59)
9z Team (HLTV Ranking #27)
The teams would play their 5-day long group as follows:
Group C bracket. Courtesy: Liquipedia
Group C Predictions
This group can be hard to predict and we have already seen some upsets in the previous groups as well. Here are my predictions on how group C would finish:
1st - Natus Vincere
2nd - Faze
3rd - Fnatic
4th - M80
5th - 9z Team
6th-7th - Apeks
6th-7th - Imperial
8th - 5yclone
I am not completely confident in these predictions as most of the matchups are a toss-up and any team can qualify out of the group stage. Most of the teams are evenly matched or have been underperforming lately. I will discuss each team performance and their recent results below:
Teams Overview:
I will go through each team in the group discussing their recent results and their expected performance individually.
Faze Clan
Roster:
Håvard “rain” Nygaard
Helvijs “broky” Saukants
Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken
Finn “karrigan” Andersen
Robin “ropz” Kool
Recent Results:
Gamers8: 9th-16th
IEM Cologne: 9th-12th
Blast Premier: Fall Groups: 1st-3rd
Blast Premier: Spring Finals: 5th-6th
Overview:
Faze are the highest rated team in their group but they have been inconsistent lately. Their performances have been struggling with a couple of underwhelming results. Even though they did not make any roster changes, they had to replace their coach and analyst which did impact their performance in recent tournaments.
The team is historically known to have issues with the strategic side of the team as the team have always been a super team with insane fragging power but never been able to produce results for a long time. The team rose to the top whenever Karrigan was in the team and was able to lead the team with his in-game calling, strats and making sure to bring the best out of each player in the team.
Faze should be one of the top teams to easily qualify to the playoffs but, their recent performances have been shaky and if they have a bad day then there might be a chance they have a rough game against some of the other teams that are looking to make an impact. Their first opponent are 9z which should not be a tough opponent for them.
I have them to end up in 2nd place just because it’s most likely to be a Faze vs Navi match in the upper bracket finals and either it’s going to be a close game or Faze may still have their inconsistent performance at the event.
Expected Finish: 2nd
Reigning champions Faze secured their Intel Grand Slam last season. Can they win Pro League back to back? Image Courtesy: HLTV
Natus Vincere
Roster:
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev
Valerij “b1t” Vakhovsjkyj
Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen
Justinas “jL“ Lekavicius
Ivan “iM” Mihai
Recent Results:
Gamers8: 5th-8th
IEM Cologne: 7th-8th
Blast Premier: Fall Groups: 4th-6th
BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 - 9th-11th
Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2023: 3rd-4th
Overview:
Navi are a team that everyone has been talking about ever since the player break. During the player break, the team has finally decided to go for an international lineup bringing in AleksiB, jL and iM. They have been performing well but, the lineup still hasn't reached their potential as they have inconsistent matches, losing to Mouz and Astralis while winning against other top teams such as G2 and FaZe.
With the amount of time they have gotten since the last event to practice. They should not have any issues making it out of the group stages and if the team is firing on all cylinders with s1mple at the helm then we might see them top their group as well.
Their opening match up is against 5ylone (ex-Rare Atom) and despite them being one of the best Asian teams they should not pose a threat to Navi and neither should Apeks/M80.
Expected Finish: 1st
Imperial Esports
Roster:
Ricardo “boltz” Prass
Vinicius “VINI“ Figueiredo
Jhonatan “JOTA“ Wilian
Henrique “HEN1“ Teles
João “felps” Vasconcellos
Recent Results:
Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023 - Play-In Stage - 9th-12th
BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023 - 3rd-4th
Overview:
Imperial Esports are coming as a team trying to figure out their identity after being a part of the Brazilian shuffle during the player break. The team had replaced Fallen and chelo with Hen1 and felps.
The team has not played many games with the new lineup, they participated in the play-in stage for IEM Cologne but, they only managed to beat Grayhound in the event and were eliminated following losses to Monte and Ninjas in Pyjamas.
They will be playing against Fnatic in the opener and despite Fnatic also being inconsistent, they have shown better results and have been constantly participating in numerous other tournaments in order to practice with their roster. Imperial may be able to win a game considering the teams that are in this group however, it will be tough for them to qualify for the playoffs.
Expected Finish: 6th-7th
Can Imperial produce results with the new roster? Image Courtesy: HLTV
Fnatic
Roster:
Freddy “KRIMZ“ Johansson
William “mezii“ Merriman
Fredrik “roeJ“ Jørgensen
Aurélien “afro“ Drapier
Christopher “dexter“ Nong
Recent Results
RES Western European Masters Fall 2023 - BLAST Premier Qualifier - 7th-8th
Gamers8 2023 - 9th-16th
Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023 - 9th-12th
Overview:
Fnatic have been a team that is struggling for results this whole year. The organization is not at the same level as they used to be in the past, failing to make the top 8 regularly. The team did bring in afro and dexter during the player break in order to relieve Mezii off the IGL duties.
They had a good showing in their first event since the roster changes at IEM Cologne as they managed to make it to the group stage through the play-in stage and even defeated Cloud9 in the group stage before losing to ENCE and GamerLegion. After IEM Cologne, the team have not had any good showings, losing to Cloud9 at Gamers8 in the first round. They also failed to qualify for the Blast Fall Finals Showdown as they went 0-2 in their group at RES Western European Masters with close losses to Alternate Attax and Sprout.
Despite the inconsistencies, they are still the 3rd highest rated team in the group and they have a lot of experienced players that showed promise at IEM Cologne. I still think that at a LAN environment they will be able to qualify for the playoffs and would probably end at 3rd place or maybe even 4th if they had an off day.
Expected Finish: 3rd
Apeks
Roster:
Tim “nawwk“ Jonasson
Joakim “jkaem“ Myrbostad
Martin “STYKO“ Styk
Damjan “kyxsan“ Stoilkovski
Aleksandar “CacaNito” Kjulukoski
Recent Results
CCT North Europe Series #7 - 9th-16th
Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023: European Qualifier - 1st
Gamers8 2023 - 9th-16th
Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1 - 9th-16th
CCT Online Finals #2 - 9th-12th
Overview:
Apeks have impressed most of the players with their run at the Paris major with a top 4 finish. However, since the player break the team has not been able to re-create that magic as jL was acquired by NaVi and released Polly and kuben; their assistant coach and coach respectively. The new roster have been unable to perform against the top tier teams; a last place finish at Gamers8 against GamerLegion and unable to qualify for the group stage of IEM Cologne.
The team was able to qualify for IEM Sydney via the closed qualifier so there’s still some good results to show for Apeks, this is an event that they need to show that the major run was not a one-off as most of the teams in the group are evenly ranked as them. Their opening match-up is against M80 which have been on the rise and can be a tough opponent for Apeks. I believe they’ll end up 6th-7th and be unable to qualify for playoffs.
Expected Finish: 6th-7th
Image Courtesy: HLTV
M80
Roster:
Michael “Swisher“ Schmid
Ethan “reck“ Serrano
Adam “WolfY“ Andersson
Mario “malbsMd“ Samayoa
Marcus “maNkz” Kjeldsen
Recent Results
Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023: North American Qualifier - 2nd
ESEA Pre-Season Circuit 2023: North American Final - 5th-8th
Thunderpick World Championship 2023: North American Series #1 - 2nd
Overview:
M80 has made an impact in the North American scene by signing the core of the ATK roster along with malbsMd, maNkz and coach dephh in order to form their roster. The organization has had good results considering how new the roster and the organization is to the counter-strike scene.
As they kept the core of the ATK roster, they retained their spot for ESL Pro League via the ESL Challenger League. Since the team is newly formed, they have not received invites to any events and have been playing in the qualifiers lately for all the events. They made it to the ESEA Pre-Season: North American Final by winning the open qualifier. They had a good showing at the IEM Sydney NA qualifier but fell short to Complexity at the grand finals.
I truly believe that they can be a dark horse in their group and can make an impact in their first ever LAN event. Their match against Apeks can be an upset and they can win a few games to barely make it past the group stage to the playoffs.
Expected Finish: 4th
5yclone
Roster:
Liang “advent“ Zhuo
Andrew “kaze“ Khong
Yang “JamYoung“ Yi
Chen “Moseyuh“ Qianhao
Wang “Mercury“ Jingxiang
Recent Results
Perfect World Arena Premier League Season 5: Professional Division - 2nd
5E Arena Asia Cup Fall 2023 - 2nd
Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023: Asian Qualifier - 2nd
As Rare Atom:
Perfect World Arena Premier League Season 4: Professional Division - 3rd
ESL Challenger League Season 45: Asia-Pacific - 1st
ESL Challenger - DreamHack Melbourne 2023 - 5th-6th
Overview:
5yclone have been on the rise in the Asian counter-strike team, they are one of the top teams that are coming out from that region. 5yclone were previously Rare Atom before their contract had expired and the organization decided to not renew their contracts so the roster went their own way.
The team had been performing well in recent regional tournaments only losing to The MongolZ and Lynn Vision. Their last offline event was Dreamhack Melbourne where they ended up 3rd in their group however, they had close losses against Movistar Riders and Bad News Eagles.
They were able to qualify for the EPL by winning the Asia-Pacific ESL Challenger League. Their first game is going to be against Navi which is going to be a pretty difficult opponent for them to beat. I do not think that they might be able to upset any of the other top teams however, I will not count them out and even though I have them at dead last for the group; I will not be surprised if they manage to sneak a win before being knocked out.
Expected Finish: 8th
9z Team
Roster:
Franco “dgt“ Garcia
Maximiliano “max“ Gonzalez
David “dav1deuS” Tapia Maldonado
Nicolás “buda“ Kramer
Santino “try“ Rigal
Recent Results
CCT North Europe Series #7 - 9th-16th
TG Masters Fall 2023 - 7th-8th
CCT South America Series #8 - 1st
KaBuM! Legends - 1st
ESL Pro League Season 18: South American Qualifier - 1st
Overview:
9z Team have been one of the best teams in the South American region, having good results for the last few months with consecutive tournament wins in the South America region. Their last few tournaments leading up to EPL were not up to par but they would be looking forward to having a good showing at ESL Pro League.
They have been able to win most of the qualifiers this year, resulting in them participating in EPL, IEM Dallas, IEM Rio 2023 and ESL Challenger Katowice. However, they did not have any good results in most of those LAN events and their best result was a 3rd-4th finish at ESL Challenger Katowice 2023, beating paiN Gaming and Ecstatic before losing the semi finals to Virtus.Pro.
Their opening match is against FaZe Clan and considering how their last match-up at IEM Rio 2023 went, losing 16-3 I do not think they would be upset them unless Faze don’t show up. They would be able to win a few games in their group against teams like Imperial and 5yclone but it will be a tough battle for them to qualify to the playoffs if they even manage to do so.
Expected Finish: 5th
This will be an exciting group to watch as apart from Faze Clan and Navi, which should in most cases qualify to the playoffs. The other 2 spots can go to any team that would be coming into the tournament with enough practice as most teams are evenly matched in terms of rankings and skill level.
