ESL Pro League Season 15: NAVI, Heroic, Astralis Qualify Through ‘Group-D’

The last group stage week of ESL Pro League Season 15 has come to an end with Natus Vincere (NAVI), Heroic, and Astralis booking the last three slots available for the playoffs through ‘Group-D’.

While the teams most likely to qualify for the next round did eventually end up proceeding ahead in the tournament, it was disappointing to see the two North American teams struggle real hard as they managed to win just a single match after playing a total of ten matches between them.

NAVI returned to form winning all its matches and registered a ‘5-0’ scoreline, topping the leaderboard and qualifying directly to the quarterfinals of the ESL Pro League Season 15. The two Danish teams, Heroic and Astralis, made it to the ‘round of 12’ following ‘4-1’ and ‘3-2’ scorelines respectively.

NAVI, Heroic, and Astralis qualify for the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 15

The CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) giants, NAVI, along with the two Danish teams, Heroic and Astralis, have rounded out the 12 teams that will be competing in the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 15. While eight teams will be competing in the ‘round of 12’, the four teams that topped their respective groups will be directly entering the quarterfinals of the tournament.

NAVI

The Ukrainian esports organization has impressed everyone with its flawless run through ‘Group-D’ of ESL Pro League Season 15. Despite being the favourites, there were a lot of questions surrounding NAVI’s stability and whether it will be able to showcase its top form at the tournament.

Well, the team passed with flying colors defeating all the other teams in its group and came out on top with a flawless ‘5-0’ scoreline. Additionally, NAVI lost just one map out of the 11 that they played, their toughest game being the one against AGO on Mirage which ended with a record ‘37-34’ scoreline.

Heroic

The first of the two Danish organizations had a near-perfect scoreline in the group stage. The team qualified with a ‘4-1’ scoreline and NAVI was the only team to hand them a ‘2-0’ defeat. Heroic managed to win a total of eight maps out of the 11 that they played as part of the group stage.

The team’s most hyped faceoff was against its local rival Astralis and the matchup concluded with a ‘2-1’ scoreline. Heroic clawed its way back from the depths of defeat as it dropped the first map and proceeded to play consecutive overtime games to ensure its victory in the derby match.

Astralis

The fallen kings had not offered a lot since the beginning of the 2022 competitive season, failing to qualify for the BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2022 followed by a 7th-8th finish at the IEM Katowice 2022. So naturally going into the ESL Pro League Season 15, the hope was not too high from this Danish lineup which still has a lot to prove.

Despite registering a defeat against both NAVI and Heroic, Astralis made sure that it won against the other remaining teams to go ‘3-2’ in the group and make it across the finish line. It was Benjamin “blameF” Bremer who turned out to be the star player for Astralis with an overall HLTV rating of 1.25 and a K/D of +62 across the 13 maps that he played.

All the 12 CS:GO teams that have qualified for the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 15 are,

Round of 12

• Heroic

• Team Liquid

• Fnatic

• ENCE

• Entropiq

• Astralis

• FaZe Clan

• Players (Virtus.pro)

Quarterfinals

• Ninjas in Pyjamas

• Movistar Riders

• FURIA Esports

• Natus Vincere

The playoffs are scheduled to start tomorrow onwards, all set to take place from 5th to 10th April, with a single team walking away as the winner along with $175,000 USD in prize money, 1300 ESL Tour Points, and 2800 BLAST Premier points.