Preview of ESL Pro League Season 12
Ihor MatusThis time ESL has decided to divide the competition into five divisions where the overall prize pool and the number of the contestants will be different. We will be able to watch matching taking place in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Oceania. The event will be happening from 1 September will 6 October.
Europe
There will be sixteen teams fighting in the European division and the overall sum of grabs will consist of $450,000. The tournament will start today and will get over on 4 October. We will be able to see games of such teams like Astralis, NAVI, Vitality, Heroic, Fnatic, G2 Esports and others.
As for favourites, this list includes such rosters like Vitality, G2, and Heroic. Natus Vincere may also be considered as a favourite but we doubt that “Born to Win” will be able to meet the hopes of their fans. The last time when this team won happened in June. After the triumph at WePlay! Clutch Island, the team was able to earn $15,000, and this, to put it mildly, is not something that Natus Vincere is capable of indeed.
It will be very interesting to watch Vitality and Heroic. These teams made it to the grand final of ESL One Cologne 2020 Online Europe where Heroic beat the French 3-0 leaving no chance to the latter. In our opinion, another favourite, even if it is not so obvious, is G2 Esports. The team has been showing more or less stable results for a long time and even made it to the semifinals at ESL One Cologne 2020 Online which is definitely a good result. Let us mark the fact that after the end of the championship, Vitality got to the top of the pedestal and Heroic moved seven positions up and took second place in the list of the best CS:GO teams according to HLTV.
This way, having taken a look at the championship with $450,000, we will be able to answer the question “Who is the best in Europe now?”. We expect to see Heroic, NAVI, G2 Esports and BIG make it out of Group A and also Astralis, Fnatic, Vitality and NiP join the playoffs from Group B.
North America
As for North America, the number of the teams is eight teams unlike Europe which will host matches between 16 teams. Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid, 100 Thieves, Triumph, FURIA Esports, Gen.G Esports, Cloud9, and Chaos Esports Club will share the overall prize pool of $225,000. The championship in the North American region will be going on from today till 27 September.
Here we can see such favourites like Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid, and FURIA Esports. Now they hold 3,6, and 8 places in the world rating. At ESL One Cologne 2020 Online, Evil Geniuses won the championship, Team Liquid took second place and FURIA Esports took 3-4 place so our expectations from the teams are not groundless.
It is remarkable that the roster of the participants in ESL Pro League Season 12 North America is absolutely analogous to the one that was present at ESL One Cologne 2020 Online. This is another reason why we can see that this trio are favourites of the championship, especially if we take into account the fact that the teams will be playing in one group in the initial stage in Round Robin, unlike ESL One Cologne, where the team were divided into two groups.
Additionally, in North American division the best four contestants will make it to the playoffs where Top-2 rosters will pass to the upper bracket, and the teams that will take 3-4 places in the bracket will join the lower bracket. The grand finalist that has passed through the upper bracket will get a kind od handicap which is one won map.
South America, Asia and Oceania
The contests in countries in South America, Asia, and Oceania will be similar since the number of participants and grabs are very much alike. Asia and Oceania will have even the same holding dates, from 21 September till 6 October. In South America, the competition will be taking place from 22 to 27 September. In each of the enlisted divisions, four participants will be playing for prize pools of $25,000. In South America, the main prize will become a goal for Sharks Esports, BOOM Esports, Isurus, and Havan Liberty Gaming. The sum has not been revealed yet. As for Oceania, Renegades, ORDER, Avant Gaming, and Chiefs Esports Club will be fighting there while Asia will host matches between TYLOO, Invictus Gaming, Vici Gaming, and Beyond Esports.
In Asia and Oceania, we treat teams that have recently won ESL One Cologne 2020 Online as favourites due to the obvious reasons. These teams are TYLOO and Renegades. In South America, BOOM Esports is our favourite. The team is in a great gaming shape and has a good lineup with experienced players for the region.
So, this tournament will have lot of exciting things to watch and we recommend not to miss this event if you are a fan of interesting CS:GO!