Just a couple of days ago, Group C of ESL Pro League S14 came to an end. Today, the CS.MONEY Blog takes a look at the expectations from each team to find out whether the squads met those expectations.
NAVI & their stability
Expectations. NAVI successfully finished the first season of 2021 by winning IEM Cologne 2021. During the season break, the team got a good rest. NAVI’s in-game team leader, Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov, spent time in Mexico with his girlfriend. Denis “electronic” Sharipov was on vacation in Turkey with his wife and daughter. Their teammates were also exempt from training for a long time and gained strength at home. Shortly before the start of the tournament, the squad finished their vacation and began intensive training at the bootcamp in Kiyv. Analysts couldn’t expect anything less than the 1st place in the group from the #1 ranked team.
Reality. Unlike G2, NAVI completely lived up to the fans’ expectations. They defeated fnatic, mousesports, EG, and FaZe, advancing to the quarterfinals of the tournament.
The encounter against BIG in the third round ended somewhat disturbingly for the fans. The German squad confidently won the match 2:0. NAVI’s coach, Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodensky, commented on the defeat, stating that the team is currently only 50% ready for the event. He also promised that the club’s play would improve in the future due to constant practicing.
We should also point out the team’s high morale — NAVI won two maps in the extra rounds. They were Overpass vs. fnatic (22-19) and Nuke vs. FaZe (19–17). We’re looking forward to witnessing their performance in the final stage of ESL Pro League against top teams.
mousesports, who did manage to make it to the playoffs
Expectations. Mousesports’ results in recent tournaments weren’t exactly outstanding. The team placed 3–4th at the Gamers Without Borders charity tournament and 13–16 place at IEM Cologne 2021. Also, during the break, there were rumors about captain Christopher “dexter” Nong getting benched. Having this info in mind, it was hard to expect reaching the ESL Pro League playoffs from mouz.
Reality. After disastrous defeats by FaZe and NAVI in the first two matches, mouz pulled themselves together. They confidently won their match vs. EG along with a tough one vs. fnatic. Eventually, they then proceeded to beat BIG 2:1 in a hard-fought battle for a playoff spot.
The squad displayed exceptional morale: not every team is capable of winning 3 maps in a row after a disastrous beginning and make it to the playoffs. Luckily, mouz have David “frozen” Čerňanský and Robin “ropz” Kool who immensly contributed to the squad’s victory. The only disappointment was the team’s AWPer acoR, whose Rating 2.0 amounted to a terrible 0.96.
Minor victory of the new fnatic lineup
Expectations. A month ago, British players Alex “ALEX” McMeekin and William “mezii” Merriman replaced Jesper “JW” Wecksell and Maikil “Golden” Selim in the fnatic lineup. Expectations from the renewed team were nothing like those from its previous version. Ukrainian analyst Arseniy “ceh9” Trynozhenko didn’t believe in the new fnatic lineup and implied that ALEX wasn’t the most reliable player. In turn, FaZe analyst Viacheslav “innersh1ne” Britvin did believe in the roster’s combat efficiency. Many experts didn’t expect fnatic to get out of the group.
Reality. The Swedish-British squad displayed a fairly decent play against the mighty NAVI, beat the solid FaZe, BIG, and outsiders EG. The only match where they failed was the one versus mousesports, where they lost 0–2. The psychological turning point was the confrontation between fnatic and BIG. In this encounter, fnatic managed to pull out a victory on the third map in an extraordinarily intense overtime series with a score of 22–18. The hard-fought win helped them restore self-confidence, and things got better from there. Their third-place finish gave their fans hope for the revival of the legendary team and its return to the list of the world’s top teams.
FaZe’s regrettable situation
Expectations: After they reached the playoffs at IEM Cologne 2021, FaZe decided to keep the roster. The team’s analyst Vyacheslav “innersh1ne” Britvin spoke about the extensive amount of work the team had done before the event. The situation gave both the fans and experts reason to believe in FaZe’s high chances of making it to the EPL playoffs.
Reality: The result isn’t excellent: the guys failed to reach the playoffs. In their matches vs. NAVI and fnatic, FaZe performed well, however, making mistakes from time to time. They surely would love to forget powerplay rounds vs. Perfecto on Nuke.
Their victories over EG, BIG, and mousesports showed the team’s good preparation. It was only because of a worse map difference compared to their competitors that FaZe didn’t make the playoffs. While they didn’t live up to the expectations, their play was up to snuff.
BIG, the one-match team
Expectations. Traditionally, BIG are considered a solid European club. Bringing in Nicklas “gade” had to make the team even stronger and make it a regular playoff contender.
Reality: The squad beat the strongest team in the group, NAVI, and defeated outsiders EG — but lost to everyone else. As a result, they didn’t manage to reach the playoffs. BIG are probably the only team who can be blamed for their inability to take advantage of particular moments in the matches, constantly losing key rounds as they did. Their loss to fnatic in the overtime rounds on the third map is a perfect example. The same goes for their encounter against mousesports — BIG failed to put up a proper fight for the CT side due to constantly losing key rounds. The fans’ and experts’ expectations had been completely different.
EG, who are having a consistently bad time
Expectations. Amidst the rumors of Cerq leaving the team due to poor stats, expectations from the team were low. Analysts expected nothing more than one victory in the group and, consequently, their departure from the tournament.
Reality:.Only one won map at the event is definitely not what the team had expected when they were preparing for the tournament. The individual stats show that every player, with the single exception of Owen “oBo” Schlatter, is in awful shape. The tactical preparation leaves a lot to be desired: captain Damian “daps” Steele failed to introduce any variety into EG’s tactics pool. The club’s future remains hazy.
ESL Pro League Season 14 Group stage is on the finish line. We’re looking forward to finding out all 12 playoff participants. And while we all wait, you can check out the results of group A and group B. Follow EPL with CS.MONEY blog to be on top of all news!
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