The review of ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals

Ihor Matus

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ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals

The teams, which have disappointed

Astralis

Despite its perfect gaming shape, Astralis was not able to reach the top of the standings and what is more, the team was not able to proceed to the final. Odds on the victory of the Danish team were equal to 2,50 and it was pretty fair because this participant had carte blanche to prevail: a nice gaming shape, a perfect moral state, a home-tournament factor — EPL #10 Finals took place in Denmark, the homeland of Astralis. However, all of that was not able to help Gla1ve and his teammates to raise the trophy one more time. The team advanced to the semi-final through the upper bracket, having defeated Renegades, G2 Esports, and Team Liquid, but lost to the players from mousesports in the match for the spot in the final. The remarkable thing is that Astralis was leading on the third map, Dust 2, with a score of 14-8 and was very close to a victory. The Danish players got happy too early and mousesports used this moment and beat the Danes in the tough battle. As a result, Astralis placed 3rd-4th and earned a money reward in the sum of $40,000, which definitely disappointed all fans of the star team.

Team Liquid

Team Liquid came to the tournament as one of the favorites. They did a “minimum” program and advanced to the playoffs. In the group stage, they defeated North and mousesports and consequently lost to Astralis in a tough battle. In the quarterfinal, they had to fight Fnatic, which had gained momentum at the tournament. They lost to the Europeans and placed 5th-6th in the standings. The Americans received a money reward in the sum of $20,000 for their efforts and fans of the tag stayed unsatisfied.

Evil Geniuses

The history of Evil Geniuses is the same as Team Liquid. The second brightest representative of the American CS:GO scene had come to Odense to fight for the title of the champion but, having made it to the quarterfinal, finished its path at the event. Evil Geniuses, just like Team Liquid, received a money reward in the sum of $20,000. Generally, EG’s performance can hardly be called fully disappointing but it was not what viewers expected from the team, which holds second place in the world rate.

Heroic

We can’t say that Heroic disappointed us a lot but the team, which had achieved victory at the LAN tournament with $100,000 of the prize pool 3 weeks before, was expected way more than the 13th-16th place out of 16. Instead of winning a match, the Danes lost to 100 Thieves and Fnatic. It’s worth to notice that the last ones became the finalists, as a result, and the fight with Fnatic was very tense and 29 rounds were played on the last two maps, which confirms the above-mentioned factor. Heroic was struggling with the strong opponent decently but there has to be the only winner in this game. cadiaN with his teammates earned $14,000 for the 13th-16th place at the championship.

The participants, which have exceeded the expectations

ATK is the roster of the American and African players, which was completed at the beginning of the season. Compared to such teams as North, Heroic, Renegades, G2, MIBR, and FaZe Clan, this roster looked very weak and came to the tournament as one of the outsiders for this reason. Surprisingly for everyone, ATK advanced higher than any of the above-mentioned teams. They lost to mousesports in the group stage but brought the heat in the lower bracket, having defeated North with a score of 2-0 and G2 with a result of 2-1. Mousesports stopped them in the match for a spot in the playoffs. Who knows what would have happened if ATK had made it to the final stage of the tournament? The team earned a money prize in the sum of $17,000 for the 7th-8th place. At the moment, what we have seen is the best result of ATK with this roster.

NAVI

The CS:GO roster of Natus Vincere has not the best time. Generally, NAVI hasn’t ever been a stable team, so their results at one or another tournament are difficult to predict. This time, Natus Vincere managed to gladden their fans because advancement to the semi-final of such a large tournament as ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals is a serious achievement. It’s worth to remind that the prize pool of the event amounted $600,000 and the main money prize was $250,000. S1mple with his teammates beat TYLOO, MIBR, and Evil Geniuses in the group stage, due to which guaranteed a spot in the semi-final. This tournament showed another time that advancement to the semi-final from the group does not always make a good impact on the team’s gaming shape. It happens this time. NAVI had one day-off, while their opponents Fnatic were playing in the quarterfinal against EG. As a result, the victory in the match between Natus Vincere and Fnatic was achieved by the last ones. The Swedes destroyed NAVI on the last map, Overpass, having lost only 6 rounds and made it to the final, and Natus Vincere placed 3rd-4th at EPL #10 Finals. NAVI, just like Astralis, earned a money reward in the sum of $40,000 for their efforts.

mousesports

mousesports causes a furor at the championship. The team was saving an intrigue from the very beginning and making its fans to make local pharmacies rich by buying heart drops. Mouze’s way to the victory was not easy. Everything was not difficult in the first Bo1 match with ATK obviously, however, matches with Team Liquid and Grayhound Gaming were tough in the group stage. The matches against Liquid were over with a score of 1-2 and the team was on the verge of elimination from the tournament in the eliminator match against Grayhound. The final against ATK was predictably easier than the rest of the matches but after the performance by the Afro-American roster, fans of mousesports worried a lot before the start of the match. Mousesports showed one of the shortest matches in the CS:GO history in the playoffs, because not every team can beat its opponent with a score of 16-0 and, considering that the opponent was Evil Geniuses, which places 2nd in the world rate, this match was a sensation.

The semi-final match between mousesports and Astralis can be described with similar words. It became clear on the first map that the match would be interesting because Train was over in the second series of overtime with a score of 22-19 in the favor of mouze. On Overpass, Astralis made the score equal without trying hard and the deal moved on the third map. The Danes started confidently on Dust 2 and the most interesting thing happened when the score was 13-8 in the favor of Astralis. As we said at the beginning of today’s material, the Danes started celebrating their victory too early. mousesports had the highest concentration at the moment and managed to make an epic comeback without a chance to recover. The European team, being on the attack side, had a brilliant series of eight won rounds, which helped the team to become confident morally and to proceed to the grand final where they were waited by Fnatic. Gla1ve shouldn’t grandstand. He was reached by karma.

In March this year, JW and ropz “exchanged pleasantries on Twitter” where ropz said: “I remember the three-time champion of Major tournaments, JW. Now, this player has become simply toxic JW”, and he had an answer from JW: “I remember ropz who was making 50 kills in every game at FPL. Now, this ropz plays only open qualifiers to the Minors”. After that the Swede and the Estonian agreed to return to a good gaming shape and, having kept their promise, they fought in the final of ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals. Also ropz got a most valuable player status.

The review of ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals. Photo 1

This match was not very interesting and was one-sided, however, there were interesting highlights. For example, an ace was made in the third round of the first map and there were aces on the second and third maps too. mousesports beat Fnatic on Inferno, Train, and Mirage with a score of 16-11, 16-10, and 16-11, respectively. The whole team of winners was in nice shape both individually and team. Shots were accurate and actions were well-played and well-coordinated. The Europeans achieved victory at ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals for a reason and the team’s account was replenished with $250,000.

And we can call the most interesting fact that bookmaker companies had not believed in the victory of mouze at the tournament. Those who decided to bet on the outright managed to multiply their bet in 67 times and such a thing happens too rarely. ropz who promised JW to become better received the status of the best player of the tournament and achieved the second victory at the LAN tournament in a row. The previous event where mouze triumphed was CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 with $500,000 of the prize pool and the main prize in the sum of $250,000.

The teams, which played on their level

Fnatic

The Swedish roster, just like mousesports, surprised all of us at the championship for a number of times. The team’s start was not the best because they showed an absolutely raw game against Evil geniuses, having won only 3 rounds in a bo1 clash. As a result, they defeated Heroic, MIBR, and 100 Thieves in the lower bracket and achieved victory over Team Liquid with a score of 2-1 in the playoffs and had triumphed in the match with NAVI with a score of 2-1. On Overpass, they were one level higher than Natus Vincere and lost to electronic and the company only 6 rounds. The final against mouze was interesting but not for fans of the Swedish team. The Europeans after the triumph over Astralis and the epic comeback were unstoppable, so it was difficult to rely on the victory of Fnatic. The Swedes earned the solid consolation money prize in the sum of $80,000 for the second place.

100 Thieves

We could have only guessed how 100 Thieves would have performed. On one hand, the Australians were in a good gaming shape and, on the other hand, there were too many strong participants at the championship who were not going to give up without a fight. 100 Thieves beat Heroic in the group stage but was not able to oppose the players from Evil Geniuses. The performance by 100T was not over and the team won one more match, in which they faced FaZe Clan. In the final of the lower bracket, jkaem with his teammates consequently lost the match with Fnatic, which had gained momentum. As a result, 100 Thieves placed 7th-8th in the standings and received a money prize in the sum of $17,000. We thought and even were sure that the Australians would continue a series of successful performances and advance to the playoffs of EPL 10 Finals but it didn’t happen.

FaZe Clan

FaZe Clan proved that the position in the world rate can’t objectively represent the team’s skills in the current period. Despite FaZe placed 6th on the list of the best CS:GO teams by HLTV, the team was not able to make us happy with its performance. The team lost the first match against MIBR with a score of 12-16 and beat TYLOO in the lower bracket with difficulties. The performance by FaZe came to an end in the second round of the lower bracket because 100 Thieves were stronger than the Europeans. NiKo with his teammates earned $15,000 for the 9th-12th place.

MIBR

We guessed in our preview that MIBR would reach the 7th-8th place and were almost right. As a result, the unstable Brazilian team lacked a won match. Finally, it placed 9th-12th in the standings and earned $15,000. The team prevailed in the first match against FaZe Clan with a score of 16-12 and they were not able to defeat Natus Vincere in the next round of the upper bracket, having lost with a score of 2-0. It’s worth to notice that they managed to win only 4 rounds on the second map. They faced Fnatic in the lower bracket who beat their opponents with a score of 2-1. There are rumors, which seem to be true, on the Internet that MIBR wants to sign meyern who will replace LUCAS1.

G2 Esports

G2 continues a series of failed performances at championships. G2 beat Sharks Esports with a score of 16-13, after which lost a fight to Astralis, after that was defeated in the match with ATK. It’s worth to notice the fact that both matches were over with a score of 1-2 and the match with Astralis was maximally tough. The first map was over with a score of 16-13 in the favor of G2 and the second and the third one were over with a score of 19-15 and 16-14 in the favor of Astralis. G2 earned $15,000 for the 9th-12th place.

Renegades

Renegades fought Astralis in the first match where lost consequently with a score of 8-16. They were luckier in the lower bracket and the Australians fought with the main outsider of the tournament, Sharks Esports, where prevailed with a score o 2-1. They faced mousesports in the next round and were showing good resistance to the Europeans, having finished the match with a score of 2-1 in the favor of the last ones. Renegades, just like FaZe, MIBR, and G2, placed 9th-12th and earned $15,000.

TYLOO, Sharks, and North

There is nothing remarkable in the fact that these teams held the last places. North hasn’t been able to show good results for a long time, TYLOO and Sharks are not that experienced to take part in such tournaments. The teams held the 13th-16th place and earned $14,000. It is not surprising but we would like to see a brighter result from Sharks to make the level of unpredictability of the tournament even higher.