With the first two groups of the ESL Pro League concluded, here were some of the top performers.
Heroic leads Group A with a perfect run
In the short break between Katowice and the ESL Pro League, Heroic made some drastic roster changes that stood to alter the core of the Danish squad. In a deal with MAD Lions, Heroic picked up Ismail “refrezh” Ali and Rasmus “sjuush” Beck after benching Johannes “b0RUP” Borup and Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen. This was certainly a risk considering the previous iteration of Heroic took the Danish organization to unprecedented heights despite the unfavorable results seen in the start of 2021. These two new additions integrated seamlessly into the Heroic lineup and played a massive part in their 5-0 group stage run. Convincingly claiming the first spot, Heroic have far and away been the best performing team in ESL.
OG and BIG dissapoint
OG, another team in Group A that experienced roster overhauls going into the event, had a much less successful run. Starting the event by dropping Nathan “NBK” Schmitt and starting prospective rifler, Niko, the roster situation complicated as Niko was not permitted to play against his former team, Heroic, while still technically under contract with them. One game shy of the playoff cutoff, one map with Niko could have been the difference maker for OG. Shortly after their disappointing finish, OG continued their roster shakeup by benching Issa “ISSAA” Murad who has consistently struggled in the online era due to high ping issues. Now officially signing Niko and searching for their fifth man, OG certainly seem more lost than found after their showing at ESL.
Read here: ISSAA benched from OG
BIG perhaps had the most shocking result from Group A as they sat at the bottom of the standings alongside Renegades with only one win. The German organization peaked in the online era at the number 1 spot on the HLTV global rankings and have since maintained a top 10 positioning. Their ESL performance however was quite the contrast. Though players like Nils “k1to” Gruhne and Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz had standout performances in their few map wins, their overall teamplay was severely lacking. Whether or not this will stand as an outlier as BIG bounces back or will start a downward spiral remains to be seen.
Group B’s competitive start
On paper, Group B seemed to have a clear top half with Vitality, FaZe, and G2 all projected to take the 3 playoff spots. In actuality, only G2 progressed by barely clenching out the 3rd place spot. The Swedish squad, Ninjas In Pyjamas, claimed first place with only a one game difference between them and ENCE. After an initial loss to G2, NIP went on a 4 game tear only dropping 2 maps, completely sweeping the likes of Vitality and FaZe.
NIP certainly appeared to be the most cohesive squad with nearly every player positive K/D and clutching out rounds at different points.
ENCE was another surprise to come out of Group B. This was ENCE’s first major showing with their new lineup after cutting Miikka “suNny” Kemppi, Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen, and Tuomas “SADDYX” Louhimaa. Since a majority of ENCE’s roster changes have resulted from alleged drama surrounding their mainstay AWPer, Aleksi “allu” Jalli, ever since the release of Aleksib to OG, it should be comforting to ENCE fans that this roster is performing well early. CS:GO’s sole Isreali player, Lotan “Spinx” Giladi, has been an incredible asset to ENCE finding 299 total frags with 9 clutches.
Vitality’s slump continues and FaZe struggles to find success
Vitality’s 2021 has been disappointing to say the least, considering the raw talent on the team and the past heights the French roster has seen. In the past month, Vitality finished 10th-12th in the BLAST Premier Spring Groups stage and fell to Team Liquid in the 2021 Katowice group stage as well. Coming into the ESL Pro League, Vitality secured their 5-man roster by cutting Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom might bear better results. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, who recovered from his personal slump rather well, Vitality was knocked out by ENCE with only 2 wins.
FaZe has made two major roster changes that theoretically should have upgraded this roster and elevated them from the poor results in the past year. Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, a relatively recent introduction, had an impressive individual showing by posting the highest KAST so far (76.8%) and headshot percentage (66%). Even with Twistzz’s incredible clutch potential, FaZe struggled to find map wins with 4 out of 5 series ending in a 2-0 either way. Though able to keep games close, FaZe’s volatility is likely to be sorted with further team cohesion but as it stands the individual performances of FaZe members have not translated into the team’s success.
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Image credit: Ninjas In Pyjamas