The preview of ESL Pro League Season 14
Ihor MatusThe general information
ESL Pro League Season 14 will be hosted in the league format from August 16 to September 12. The event will be divided into two parts: the group stage and the playoffs. 24 teams will be divided into 4 groups consisting of 6 teams in each one in the initial stage. 24 teams will determine the top 12 participants who will continue their road in the playoffs. Every group will have three invitations to the final stage. The teams to demonstrate the best result will guarantee themselves a spot in the quarterfinals and miss the Round of 12. The teams placing 2nd-3rd will proceed to the playoffs too but, unlike the ones who hold the 1st place, they will start from the Round of 12. The participants to hold the 4th-6th place in their groups will finish their path at the championship and place 13th-24th in the standings. The prizes will differ for the participants who hold the 6th, 5th, and 4th places in their groups.
The final stage will be carried out in a single-elimination bracket. It means that all participants will have only one opportunity to advance to the grand final and achieve victory, there will be no right to make a mistake.
The general prize pool of the championship will amount to $750,000 and many rating points in the ESL Pro Tour and BLAST Premier tables. By the way, the winner will earn not just a solid monetary reward of $175,000 but an invitation to BLAST Premier World Final 2021.
The distribution of prizes
- 1st place — $175,000 + 1,300 ESL Pro Tour points + 2,800 BLAST Premier points + an invitation to BLAST Premier World Final 2021
- 2nd place — $60,000 + 1,000 ESL Pro Tour points + 1,400 BLAST Premier points
- 3rd-4th place — $30,000 + 780 ESL Pro Tour points + 875 BLAST Premier points
- 3rd-4th place — $30,000 + 780 ESL Pro Tour points + 875 BLAST Premier points
- 5th-8th place — $13,750 + 485 ESL Pro Tour points + 262,5 BLAST Premier points
- 5th-8th place — $13,750 + 485 ESL Pro Tour points + 262,5 BLAST Premier points
- 5th-8th place — $13,750 + 485 ESL Pro Tour points + 262,5 BLAST Premier points
- 5th-8th place — $13,750 + 485 ESL Pro Tour points + 262,5 BLAST Premier points
- 9th-12th place — $10,000 + 250 ESL Pro Tour points
- 9th-12th place — $10,000 + 250 ESL Pro Tour points
- 9th-12th place — $10,000 + 250 ESL Pro Tour points
- 9th-12th place — $10,000 + 250 ESL Pro Tour points
- 9th-12th place — $10,000 + 250 ESL Pro Tour points
- 13th-16th place (4th place in the group) — $7,000 + 100 ESL Pro Tour points
- 13th-16th place (4th place in the group) — $7,000 + 100 ESL Pro Tour points
- 13th-16th place (4th place in the group) — $7,000 + 100 ESL Pro Tour points
- 13th-16th place (4th place in the group) — $7,000 + 100 ESL Pro Tour points
- 17th-20th place (5th place in the group) — $5,000 + 50 ESL Pro Tour points
- 17th-20th place (5th place in the group) — $5,000 + 50 ESL Pro Tour points
- 17th-20th place (5th place in the group) — $5,000 + 50 ESL Pro Tour points
- 17th-20th place (5th place in the group) — $5,000 + 50 ESL Pro Tour points
- 21st-24th place (6th place in the group) — $3,000
- 21st-24th place (6th place in the group) — $3,000
- 21st-24th place (6th place in the group) — $3,000
- 21st-24th place (6th place in the group) — $3,000
The distribution of teams by groups
Group A
- Heroic
- Astralis
- Team Vitality
- Team Spirit
- ENCE
- Bad News Bears
Group B
- G2 Esports
- Virtus.pro
- Complexity Gaming
- OG
- forZe
- Sinners Esports
Group C
- Natus Vincere
- FaZe Clan
- BIG
- mousesports
- Evil Geniuses
- Fnatic
Group D
- Gambit Esports
- NiP
- FURIA Esports
- Team Liquid
- Entropiq
- Team One
The main guests of honor
Natus Vincere
#1 in the rate by HLTV
Odds on the victory: 3.50
Experts from bookmaker companies believe that the era of Gambit Esports has already gone. It is an absolutely logical assumption because NAVI is in a brilliant gaming shape at the moment and the CS:GO roster is probably facing one of its best periods in the history of the esports organization.
At the last LAN championship, which took place in Germany, Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev, NAVI’s main star, set an absolute record in making the biggest number of aces per tournament. He has managed to kill all his opponents alone four times. Besides, the team is gaining momentum with the recently arrived Valeriy ‘B1t’ Vakhovskiy, and the team is ready for new achievements. It is worth reminding that Natus Vincere prevailed at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2021. The team has earned $400,000 for the victory in the event and we see no reasons for NAVI not winning the event. They will definitely have the tough competition in the face of the countrymen from Gambit Esports, however, “The Born to Win” is the main favorite of ESL Pro League Season 14.
Gambit Esports
#2 in the rate by HLTV
Odds on the victory: 4.30
The battle for the title of the best CIS team and the best team in the world between Gambit Esports and Natus Vincere has started relatively recently. It was pretty interesting to follow how Gambit advanced from the team to dominate the Tier-2 stage to the roster, which led the HLTv rate for a decent period. The period from May to June this year can be called the era of Gambit Esports, during which only Natus Vincere was able to compete with sh1ro and his teammates. Now, the CIS teams will have to fight at the championship for the right to be the best CIS team. The clash between Gambit Esports and Natus Vincere might become the most interesting matchup of the upcoming championship, however, it will happen if a few events happen, which lead to the match of the titans of the CIS scene. It is worth reminding that NAVI was seeded into Group C, while Gambit Esports will compete with the teams from Group D.
G2 Esports
#3 in the rate by HLTV
Odds on the victory: 7.50
The Kovac cousins and their brothers in arms are ready to enter the battle for the title of the champion of ESL Pro League Season 14 and the main money prize of $175,000. Besides, G2 Esports has one more interesting point, which they would like to reach. We are talking about the principled match against Natus Vincere. G2 has recently lost to the players from NAVI in the grand final of Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2021 and it became a basis for discussions that G2 will be preparing for Natus Vincere as properly as possible. The situation is even more serious due to the fact that G2 did not win the rematch against Natus Vincere for the lost grand final of Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2020, which had taken place more than a year before the events at IEM Cologne 2021. Since the end of the championship in Cologne, there have been no big championships, so the gaming shape of G2 Esports and the rest of the participants will be a surprise for viewers.
G2 Esports shows a nice teamplay thanks to the synergy created by Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac and Nemanja ‘huNter-’ Kovac. However, the team depends on morale a lot and it can let its fans down in situations it should not fail. We think that G2 Esports will be one of the main icings on the cake called ESL Pro League Season 14. The Europeans were seeded into Group B where they will play against such teams as Virtus.pro, Complexity Gaming, OG, forZe, and Sinners Esports. Sounds not that difficult, especially considering that you have to enter the top 3 participants of your group to make it to the playoffs.
Astralis
#4 in the rate by HLTV
Odds on the victory: 10.00
The list of the four favorites is closed by the team, which can truly own the intriguing status. There were lots of rumors around the Danish team and the management announced new roster changes regularly. For example, it was revealed on August 1 that Philip ‘Lucky’ Ewald who used to represent Tricked Esport will be playing under the colors of Astralis. In fact, this tournament will be a nice test for Ewald where he will perform together with his new teammates on the big stage. We are not sure that the debut of the young esportsman will be ground-breaking and pretty successful but we will not expect the opposite.
It will be very interesting to follow the results of Astralis at this event. This championship might become the last one on the roster of the Danish organization for every player, except for gla1ve and Lucky, so there should be some kind of excitement in the matches with the participation of Astralis. Astralis will start their road in Group A where, besides them, their countrymen from Heroic, Team Vitality, Team Spirit, ENCE, and Bad News Bears will be fighting to make it to the playoffs. The last ones are unlikely to show serious competition but the Danes will struggle with the rest of the teams.
NiP
#7 in the rate by HLTV
Odds on the victory: 15.00
Talking about Astralis and the Danish esportsmen, we cannot but notice dev1ce who has been representing the colors of the esports organization for a long time. Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz’s road in the ranks of NiP continued and the start of the partnership was not too funny. The Swedish team was involved in the controversy with the players from Anonymo Esports where the esportsmen faced server connection issues, however, they decided to tell about this not during the game but after their loss to Snax and his teammates. The story is forgotten a bit but the poor results, which are achieved by the team, are not. The team regularly holds the 7th-8th place, enters the top 4 hardly, and it even placed 9th-12th in the standings of IEM Cologne 2021.
NiP fans can believe in the success of the favorite team but we do not think that dev1ce and his teammates will be able to achieve big success at this championship. It will probably proceed to the playoffs, however, we do not expect to see them in the top 4 participants of the event. Many esports influences have provided different thoughts about dev1ce’s transfer to the ranks of NiP. Some representatives of the industry stated that this decision could be evaluated as retiring. ESL Pro League Season 14 might prove one more time that they were probably right.
If we distribute our expectations by groups, we will see Heroic placing first in Group A, G2 Esports leading Group B, NAVI being the leaders in Group C, and Gambit Esports being the best one in the fourth quartet. In our opinion, Heroic and Team Vitality will advance to the playoffs from Group A, Complexity Gaming and Virtus.pro will proceed from Group B, FaZe Clan and BIG will advance from Group C, and Team Liquid and NiP will make it from Group D.
The championship should be very interesting and probably unexpected. The first matches of ESL Pro League Season 14 will be carried out today. You will not miss them if you are a CS:GO fan.
The teams from Group A start first, they will be playing matches on August 16-20. Today, we will be able to watch the following matches:
- Heroic vs Bad News Bears
- Team Vitality vs ENCE
- Astralis vs Team Spirit