There have been a lot of ups and downs in this first week of Season 6 of the ESL Pro League. There were quite a few unpredictable matches, in both Europe and North America.
Teams the CS:GO community didn't think had a chance surprised everyone by defeating supposedly 'better' teams. We're going to bring you up-to-date on Team performances, and give you a good idea at how well… or badly… each team is doing.
They're at the very top of the leader board in the first week, having played a total of 8 matches, winning 6 and losing 2, scoring 18 points.
Besides, FaZe Clan isn't just leading here, but also played one of the first matches at the opening of this Season of the League. They were first paired against G2 Esports where they defeated them in both rounds, by 2-0. Next, they were up against mousesports and the match finished in a draw… this despite the fact that olofmeister was on board.
In their next matches, they were battling BIG, and that ended in another tie. FaZe Clan then played Team EnVyUs in their next matches and won both rounds.
We can't wait to see FaZe Clan face Fnatic.
Fnatic won their first two rounds against BIG. They've had to bid farewell to olofmeister, but it doesn't seem to have cramped their style all that much. Fnatic are currently ranked 2nd, with 5 wins and 1 loss, having made a total of 15 points.
After BIG, they went on to win both rounds against Team LDLC. However, Natus Vincere put a stop to Fnatic's winning spree by settling for a 1-1 draw.
North, with 6 matches played and 5 of them won, currently holds 12 points. Their first 2 matches against G2 Esports were tied. In later matches, against Team EnVyUs, they won both rounds by 2-0. In their next pair up, against Ninjas in Pyjamas, North again won both rounds 2-0. Fnatic and North both tie at 15 points each, with identical numbers of wins and losses on their score boards.
Heroic seem to be in reasonable form this season. They have played 8 matches and won 5 of them, losing the other 3, thus scoring 15 points. They won their encounter against Hellraisers 2-0, and fought to a draw against GODSENT. After that, they completely lost both rounds against Astralis. This was then followed by them bouncing back and annihilating Natus Vincere in the next two rounds.
The winner of last Season, G2 Esports won 3 out of 6 matches, scoring only 9 points, and thus standing 5th. As I already mentioned, G2 Esports lost against FaZe Clan in the matches played against each other. Later they defeated Astralis by 2-0 and so stabilized their score. Then G2 Esports managed to win against North in the next matches they played.
Astralis have not played more than 4 matches and they already rank within the top 6. That's not bad at all. In these 4 matches, Astralis managed 2 wins and took 2 losses, scoring 6 points. They started off by losing to G2 Esports 2-0, but later defeated Heroic in both rounds.
At number 7 is BIG, with 6 matches played. Having lost 4, BIG has scored no more than 6 points. Facing veteran Pro teams at the start didn't work out too well for BIG. They lost both rounds against Fnatic and somehow managed to tie Hellraisers in the next match-up. Then, it was another tie against FaZe Clan. We can only hope for better performances to come.
GODSENT is at position 8. With only 3 matches played and 2 of them beings wins, they've made a very good showing so far. They have scored a total of 5 points, with one of the matches between GODSENT and mousesports being postponed.
Alongside GODSENT, we have Team EnVyUs also scoring 5 points, albeit with greater losses. Team EnVyUs played 6 matches, lost 4 and won only 2. That is certainly not a good trade off.
Similarly, mousesports and Hellraisers scored 4 points each. But, where mousesports won 1 out of 3 matches played, Hellraisers won 1 out of a massive 5.
Natus Vincere disappointed their fans, losing 3 out of 4 matches played, and scoring a mere 3 points. Ninjas in Pyjamas and Team LDLC were not good performers either, ending at the bottom of the rankings. Of course, they have only played 2 matches each so far, and still have plenty of time to climb the ladder. But it is still rather disappointing to see one of the oldest teams starting at the bottom of the leader board.
Here's an analysis of how the North American Teams played. The maximum number of matches played by any team here is also 8.
Guess who leads the North American leader board?! It's SK Gaming. We're not surprised to see SK Gaming leading the score board. They certainly didn't let their fans down, and showcased some absolutely awesome talent last week.
SK Gaming played 8 matches and won 6 of them, with a score of 18 points. They started with a tie against Team Liquid. But they came back aggressively in their next battle against Luminosity Gaming and won those rounds 2-0. Immortals fought them doggedly to a draw. And interestingly enough, though SK won both rounds against compLexity Gaming, complexity certainly put up a good fight.
Surprisingly enough, OpTic Gaming managed to rank 2nd, winning all the 4 matches they played and gaining 12 points. They faced Ghost Gaming and Rogue, and crushed them both with 2-0 wins. This was definitely one of the best performances by OpTic Gaming so far. And it looks like they still have a good chance to rank first on the leader board, since SK Gaming has already played 8 matches to their 4.
Team Liquid is 3rd, with 4 wins and 2 losses, scoring 12 points. While fighting to a draw against SK Gaming, and surprisingly, against Ghost Gaming as well, they also managed to defeat Counter Logic Gaming by 2-0. Ghost Gaming, of course, did a good job snatching a game from Team Liquid. These small mistakes might make all the difference later, and Team Liquid needs to play with more care.
Ranked 5th, Counter Logic Gaming won and lost 3 matches, thus scoring 9 points. They have played against 3 teams so far, and tied with every single one of them. Their strategy within the tournament so far seems to be aimed at drawing as many games as possible.
NRG Esports comes in 6th, with 3 wins and 1 loss, scoring 8 points. Cloud9 gave them that one loss… They gave NRG a hard time in round 2 after losing the first one, and managed to score off NRG.
North American Teams currently holding positions 7-11.
We have Immortals ranked 7th, with 2 wins and 2 losses, and a score of 7 points. SK Gaming and Renegades didn't let Immortals have both rounds to themselves. So, instead, Immortals ended with two 1-1 ties.
Similarly, compLexity Gaming won and lost 2 rounds. Rogue didn't stand a chance against compLexity Gaming and lost both the rounds. Unfortunately, compLexity just didn't stand a chance against SK Gaming.
Renegades also won 2 matches and lost 2. Renegades faced Splyce and Immortals and ended up drawing with both of them.
Splyce and Cloud9 both won 1 and lost 3 matches. After winning a recent event, fans were hoping for a better performance from Cloud9. Nonetheless, they still have a chance, since they've only played 4 matches so far.
North American Teams currently holding positions 12-14.
Ghost Gaming have managed only a single victory out of 4 matches played. And that was against Team Liquid. It seems they caught Team Liquid off-guard when they underestimated Ghost Gaming.
Luminosity Gaming and Rogue have not won a single victory in a total of 4 matches so far. That said, they still have time to prove themselves, but they must meet upcoming matches with more focus and skill.
Remember that this review isn't fully balanced, as not all teams have played the same number of matches during this first week.
Nevertheless, it's been an exciting week, with, as I said, quite a few upsets and surprises. Things are just warming up… we'll certainly be looking forward to next week's matches.