ESL Pro League S18: Group D Overview & Predictions
The group stages of ESL Pro League: Season XVIII is almost to a close as the last group will be starting soon. As always, the winner from 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 and the 3rd and 4th place seeds will face off against each other, having to run through the whole playoff bracket.
Playoff brackets overview. Courtesy: HLTV
Group Participants:
The Group D of ESL Pro League Season 18 will feature the following the teams:
G2 Esports (HLTV Ranking #3)
Cloud9 (HLTV Ranking #8)
9INE (HLTV Ranking #18)
Team Liquid (HLTV Ranking #13)
Complexity (HLTV Ranking #20)
Virtus Pro (HLTV Ranking #10)
Eternal Fire (HLTV Ranking #31)
Lynn Vision (HLTV Ranking #60)
These teams would play their 5-day long group as follows:
Group D bracket. Courtesy: Liquipedia
Group D Predictions
This group has a few strong teams and a few teams that have been struggling with results and have been performing pretty inconsistently. If those teams don’t show up then we might have some of the other lower ranked teams actually upset them and qualify for the playoffs. Here are my predictions on for group D:
1st - G2 Esports
2nd - Cloud9
3rd - Virtus Pro
4th - Complexity
5th - Lynn Vision
6th-7th - Team Liquid
6th-7th - Eternal Fire
8th - 9INE
G2 and Cloud9 should be a lock for playoffs, Virtus.Pro should be able to secure a spot as well despite them not playing many tournaments over the season however, there’s still a chance that they might be inconsistent. The last spot can be any of the teams as all of them have been having inconsistent results and the smaller teams like Lynn Vision may be able to upset a few teams if they don’t show up against them.
Teams Overview:
I will discuss each team performance and their recent results below:
G2 Esports
Roster:
Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač
Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov
Justin “jks” Savage
Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen
Recent Results:
Gamers8: 3rd-4th
IEM Cologne: 1st
Blast Premier: Fall Groups: 7th-9th
Blast Premier: Spring Finals: 3rd-4th
Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023: 5th-6th
Overview:
G2 Esports have had their highs and lows this year; they started off the year with winning their group stage at Blast Spring groups and IEM Katowice 2023 before their performance started to drop off. A 9th-12th place finish at the last ESL Pro League and failing to make it to the playoffs of the last CS:GO major in Paris.
The team also decided to not make any roster changes during the player break which is fine as the team still have some of the best players in their respective roles. Ever since the player break the team have started to make top 4 finishes again at the Blast Spring Finals and Gamers8 2023 and also managed to win IEM Cologne 2023. The first ever win at Cologne for the organization and the players.
G2 will be coming off a huge break just like most of the top teams who weren’t playing any online events ever since the last LAN event (Gamers8) however, I do believe that they are still one of the top teams coming into the group stage and should easily be in the top 2.
Expected Finish: 1st
G2 winning IEM Cologne 2023. Image Courtesy: HLTV
Cloud9
Roster:
Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov
Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov
Abai “HObbit” Hasenov
Denis “electroNic” Sharipov
Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy
Recent Results:
RES Eastern European Masters Fall 2023 - BLAST Premier Qualifier: 1st
Gamers8: 5th-8th
IEM Cologne: 5th-6th
Blast Premier: Spring Finals: 7th-8th
Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023: 7th-8th
Brazy Party: 1st
Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2023: 3rd-4th
Overview:
Cloud9 have been considered as one of the top contenders ever since the player break as they brought in electroNic and Perfecto from NaVi in order to further strengthen their squad considering they already had sh1ro and Ax1le in the team. The runner-ups of the last ESL Pro League season would be looking to repeat the same performance and might be looking to win the whole tournament this time.
They did not have enough time to obtain LAN practice with the new roster and have only played 3 offline matches with the full roster as they had to play most of their first event IEM Cologne with a stand-in and only got to play 1 game with the full roster before being eliminated. Their second event with the full roster involved a single-elimination bracket and were eliminated in their second game at Gamers8.
The team have just qualified for the EU Showdown of the Blast Fall Finals by winning the RES Eastern European Masters Fall 2023 beating Team Spirit, 1Win and Eternal Fire in order to win the tournament. If the team starts firing on all cylinders then we can see them be a team to be feared. They can easily make it to the upper bracket finals and the only team that can match up to them is G2 and maybe Virtus.Pro if they show up.
Expected Finish: 2nd
9INE
Roster:
Krzysztof “Goofy” Górski
Kamil “KEi” Pietkun
Kacper “Kylar” Walukiewicz
Wiktor “mynio” Kruk
Aleksander “hades” Miskiewicz
Recent Results:
Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #2: 9th-16th
RES Western European Masters Fall 2023 - BLAST Premier Qualifier: 1st
Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023: European Qualifier: 3rd
Gamers8: 9th-16th
Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1: 9th-16th
Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2023: 13th-16th
CCT West Europe Series #4: 5th-8th
Overview:
9INE have been a solid team in the Tier 2/lower tier 1 bracket as they are constantly competing in small T2 tournaments as well as making it to most of the tier 1 events. However, their results aren’t that great as they usually go out early in most of the big events. It’s always a coin-toss in the smaller online tournaments as they have beaten Ninjas in Pyjamas alongside a bunch of smaller teams but on the other hand they have lost to Endpoint and Looking4Org recently.
I do not see them beating any of the top teams in their group such as G2 or Cloud9 but they might be able to have a close game against the other evenly matched teams as most of them have not played in a month due to the break. They have already upset Team Liquid during the play-in stage of IEM Cologne so there’s that to look out for. I have put them at last place because I feel like they would lose their opening game to Complexity and might even lose to most likely Eternal Fire. If so, they might end up facing Lynn Vision who may be able to upset them. It’s not a guarantee though and seeing how competitive the group stages have been, it’s anyones game to qualify to the playoffs.
Expected Finish: 8th
Complexity
Roster:
Johnny JT Theodosiou
Ricky “floppy” Kemery
Michael “Grim” Wince
Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli
Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski
Recent Results
Thunderpick World Championship 2023 North America Series 2 - 1st
IEM Sydney 2023 North America Closed Qualifier - 1st
IEM Cologne 2023 Play-in - 13th-16th
BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023 - 10th-12th
Overview:
Complexity have been looking good in the North American region with their pickup of Elige however, their results in the start weren’t that great. Only winning a game against Ninjas in Pyjamas in BLAST Fall groups before being eliminated. They also had a last place finish in IEM Cologne, failing to win a single game during the play-in stage of the event.
They had a good showing back in their home region as they were able to qualify for IEM Sydney and Thunderpick World Championship. Obviously, the teams that they have faced weren’t that great and can’t be compared to their EU opposition however, they can use these tournaments as practice and also to improve their team chemistry.
I do expect them to win a few games and even though I have them predicted as 4th place, there is still a chance that they might not qualify to the playoffs depending on how the group stage plays out.
Expected Finish: 4th
Can Elige help take Complexity to the top? Image Courtesy: HLTV
Team Liquid
Roster:
Keith “NAF” Markovic
Joshua “oSee” Ohm
Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis
Aleks “Rainwaker” Petrov
Robert “Patsi” Isyanov
Recent Results
Gamers8 2023: 9th-16th
IEM Cologne 2023 Play-in: 9th-12th
BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2023: 7th-9th
Overview:
Team Liquid has been struggling for results and have been unable to regain their old grand slam era glory days. The team has finally transitioned to an EU team bringing in Patsi and Rainwaker however, for an organization like Team Liquid these aren’t the caliber of players that they should be getting.
The team couldn’t really produce any good results with the roster, they had a good start off the player break beating G2 and FaZe in the start however, that didn’t last long and were eliminated from Blast Fall Groups following losses to FaZe Clan and Astralis. Since then the team has been on a downward trend, with early exits in the play-in stage of IEM Cologne and Gamers8 2023.
The team is not practicing with any other official games apart from the big events, the roster is still trying to find their footing and ever since the roster changes they have only won 3 games out of the 8 that they have played.
Another thing to note is that they might be playing with a stand-in as according to some sources Patsi is unable to travel and daps may be fielding in for him. If that is also true and Patsi can not arrive in time then it will make it much harder for Team Liquid to progress at EPL. If they do manage to field their whole roster then I might consider them ending at 4th-5th place.
As I was writing this, Team Liquid had announced that daps will be standing in for Patsi which further reduces any hopes that they might have of qualifying to the playoffs.
Expected Finish: 6th-7th
Virtus Pro
Roster:
Dzhami “Jame” Ali
Evgeniy “FL1T” Lebedev
Petr “fame” Bolyshev
David “n0rb3r7” Daniyelyan
Nikolay “mir” Bityukov
Recent Results
PARI Dunav Party 2023: 2nd
Gamers8 2023: 5th-8th
IEM Sydney 2023 Europe Open Qualifier 2: 5th-8th
Thunderpick World Championship 2023 Europe Series #1: 5th-8th
CCT 2023 Online Finals 2: 1st
ESL Challenger Katowice 2023: 1st
Overview:
Virtus Pro have not been talked about a lot lately, and ever since they won the Rio Major they were unable to keep up that form; including failing to qualify for the Paris Major. The team have been participating in numerous online and LAN events recently, securing at least a top 8 finish in all their recent tournaments. The IEM Sydney Open Qualifiers stands out from those results as they were knocked out by ThunderFlash in a bracket where they should have easily qualified but it was Best Of One game.
They usually have good results in a LAN environment and it shows as they have ESL Challenger Katowice in order to qualify for this season of ESL Pro League, a 2nd place finish at PARI Dunav Party 2023. They ended up 5th-8th at Gamers8, losing to G2 in a close affair.
The teams form coming into the tournament should be good and I do think that they should not have any issues making it to the playoffs, their opening game against Team Liquid should not be an issue if Team Liquid aren’t able to field their whole roster. G2 and Cloud9 are the only teams that are stronger than them and the other teams should not give them any trouble unless their players don’t show up.
Expected Finish: 3rd
Eternal Fire
Roster:
İsmailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş
Buğra “Calyx” Arkın
Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli
Ali “Wicadia” Haydar Yalçın (Stand-in)
Özgür “woxic” Eker
Recent Results
RES Eastern European Masters: Fall 2023: 3rd-4th
Dunav Party LAN: 7th-8th
Pinnacle Cup V: 5th-8th
CCT Central Europe Series #7: 5th-8th
Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #1: 3rd-4th
CCT North Europe Series #6: 3rd-4th
ESL Pro League Season 18: European Conference: 1st
Overview:
Eternal Fire had been grinding it out in the online tournaments and the Tier 2 scene for a pretty long time but they have not seem to have broken through the ceiling yet. Their last win was the EPL European Conference which secured them a spot in ESL Pro League but, apart from that the team is usually struggling for results. They usually have scheduling conflicts as well considering the amount of online tournaments they play on a daily basis.
Considering how their recent results have been against Tier 2 opposition, I do not think they would be able qualify to the playoffs. They might be able to beat 9INE and also have close games against Lynn Vision and Complexity but they may fall short.
Expected Finish: 6th-7th
Lynn Vision
Roster:
Niu “westmelon” Zhe
Zhang “z4kr” Sike
Ye “Starry” Lizhi
Tang “EmiliaQAQ” Junjie
Ji “Jee” Dongkai
Recent Results
Perfect World Arena Premier League Season 5: Professional Division: 1st
5E Arena Asia Cup Fall 2023: 3rd-4th
Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023: Asian Qualifier: 1st
XSE Pro League 2023: 1st
ESL Challenger League Season 45: Asia-Pacific: 2nd
ESL Challenger League Season 44: Asia-Pacific: 1st
Overview:
Lynn Vision have been one of the top Asian team for a while now as they have been beating most of the teams in their region including 5yclone (ex-Rare Atom) and The MongolZ. They have recently qualified for IEM Sydney and have also qualified for EPL S18 by winning the Asia-Pacific division of ESL Challenger League Season 44. They have also won a few regional tournaments and league as well.
Their opening game is against G2 Esports and some may remember the scare that they had given the CS community during their previous encounter. They faced G2 in the Blast Premier Fall Showdown 2021 and they had taken the first map off G2 before being reverse swept to a 2-1 loss but they gave a few memorable moments including a 1v5 clutch by Starry. The core of the team is still the same as the 2021 version however I do not think that lightning will strike twice and also that G2 has been a much better team since then.
If they can carry on their momentum and form from their regional leagues and can show up to the EPL with the same energy then I can see them winning against a few Tier 2 EU teams like Eternal Fire and 9INE and may give them a hard time even if they go out in last place as most people may think where they’ll end up.
Expected Finish: 5th
This will be an exciting group to watch as apart from G2 Esports and Cloud9, which should in most cases qualify to the playoffs. The other 2 spots can go to any team as most teams are pretty inconsistent with their recent results.
