The Player break comes to an end as the ESL Pro League Season 14 stands on the horizon.
ESL Counter Strike on Twitter had earlier announced the match-ups for the upcoming ESL Pro League Season 14 which starts tomorrow i.e. August 16 following the completion of a month-long player break. 24 teams will engage in the competition to take the Pro League trophy alongside the prize money of $175,000 and a spot at the BLAST Premier World Final 2021.
Ahead of the EPL S14, let’s take a look at some of the teams, deemed to be heavy favourites going into the tournament.
Fnatic
The once all-Swedish side recently switched to an international roster featuring Alex “ALEX” McMeekin, Willian “mezii” Merriman and Jamie “Keita” Hall with the latter joining as a strategic coach.
After a series of lacklustre showings across top tier events, Fnatic decided to restructure their CS:GO division in a bid to climb back to the top.
mezii is no stranger to ALEX as he recently had played alongside him at Cloud9 and might be able to reform the synergy with the British tactician and the rest of the players. Fnatic are set to debut with their new-look roster against Natus Vincere on August 27.
Heroic
A mettlesome Casper “Cadian” Møller indeed won it for Heroic during their run at EPL S13. Before their dream run at the latter, the Danish organization did undergo a major revamp having added Ismail “refrezh” Ali and Rasmus “sjuush” Beck to their active lineup only to triumph at the former.
The moment of bliss further dwindled for Heroic as they couldn’t convert their rhythm into a winning cause further in the events post their EPL victory. Will they be able to defend their throne? They have been placed along with the heavyweights Astralis and Vitality in Group A and will play their opener against Bad News Bears on August 16 at 17:00 PM IST.
FaZe Clan
Ever since the return of Finn “Karrigan” Anderson to FaZe Clan after a brief tenure at Mousesports, the European mixture has always tried to redeem themselves, which was achieved at the IEM Cologne 2021.
A semi-final appearance after a plethora of mid/bottom table finishes has let the pressure go off their shoulders as FaZe now look forward to displaying their alliance at the Pro League.
Complexity Gaming
Complexity rounded off their roster with Patrick “es3tag” Hansen and Luis “peacemaker” Tadeu after the exits of William “RUSH” Weirzba and Jamie “Keita” Hall from their active squad.
They last prevailed at the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals against Team Vitality but have struggled to find consistency later in the second half and in 2021. The addition of es3tag might bolster the team’s firepower which can be only found out through their EPL journey in Group B.
Bad News Bears
Having secured Paytyn “junior” Johnson from FURIA on loan following the retirement of Peter “ptr” Gurney, Bad News Bears (BnB) will be looking forward to pull off some upsets, going forward in their yet another European tour at the EPL 14.
Although an early exit from the play-in stage of IEM Cologne 2021 cost BnB a chance to unleash their potential, their Pro League appearance might help them attract an organization willing to sign their squad.
A total of 24 teams have been drawn into 4 Groups from A to D. The fixtures of Group A start tomorrow i.e. August 17, Group B starts on August 21, Group C on August 27 while the final Group D commences from September 1 onwards.
Final seeds :
Group A
- Heroic
- Astralis
- Vitality
- Spirit
- ENCE
- Bad News Bears
Group B
- G2 Esports
- Virtus.Pro
- Complexity Gaming
- OG
- forZe
- Sinners
Group C
- Natus Vincere
- FaZe Clan
- BIG
- Mousesports
- Evil Geniuses
- Fnatic
Group D
- Ninjas In Pyjamas
- Team Liquid
- TeamOne
- Entropiq
- Gambit
- FURIA
Day 1 Opening Fixtures:
Group A
- August 16: Heroic v/s Bad News Bears (17:00 PM IST)
- Vitality v/s ENCE (20:15 PM IST)
- Astralis v/s Spirit (23:30 PM IST)
Group B
- August 21: G2 v/s Sinners (17:00 PM IST)
- Virtus.pro v/s OG (20:15 PM IST)
- Complexity v/s forZe (23:30 PM IST)
Group C
- August 27: BIG Vs EG (17:00 PM IST)
- Na’Vi v/s Fnatic (20:15 PM IST)
- FaZe v/s mousesports (23:30 PM IST)
Group D
- September 1: Gambit Vs TeamOne (17:00 PM IST)
- FURIA Vs Entropiq (20:15 PM IST)
- NiP Vs Team Liquid (23:30 PM IST)
