ESL Pro League Season 15: NIP, Entropiq, Fnatic Qualify Through ‘Group-A’
The first of the four groups concludes as three teams advance to the playoffs.
The ESL Pro League Season 15 kicked off last week on 9th March with its group stage and has now reached the end of its first week of competitive play. Six teams went up against each other in ‘Group-A’ and the three that have managed to qualify for the playoffs are Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP), Entropiq, and Fnatic.
While NIP has managed to directly qualify into the quarterfinals by placing first in its group, the other two teams Entropiq and Fnatic have reached the first round of the playoffs which are scheduled to take place in the second week of April.
NIP, Entropiq, and Fnatic qualify into the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 15
The first three CS:GO teams have booked their slots for the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 15 where a total of 12 teams will be going up against each other to crown a new champion that will be walking away with $175,000 USD in prize money along with 1300 ESL Pro Tour (EPT) points and 2800 BLAST Premier points.
NIP
The ‘Group-A’ matches witnessed some top-notch action taking place from 9th to 13th March as NIP topped the points table on the back of some brilliant performances despite the continued absence of its star Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz.
NIP won against all the teams that were a part of its group with the exception of G2 Esports. The team won eight out of the 12 maps that it played, as Fredrik "REZ" Sterner stood out as the main player for the side with an overall HLTV rating of 1.27 along with a K/D of +56.
The Swedish organization has managed to directly qualify into the quarterfinals of the tournament and it has sufficient time on its hands to prepare accordingly.
Fnatic
Coming into the tournament, Fnatic’s CS:GO lineup did not look good on paper as it started out with only two permanent members and three temporary substitute players - Matias “Banjo“ Kivistö, Peppe "Peppzor" Borak, and Valentin "poizon" Vasilev.
Despite facing harsh criticism from the community for what was going on within the organization, Fnatic has passed the first hurdle by winning three out of the five matches that it played and made it into the playoffs. This was a great showing by the organization who were missing experienced players like Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson who tested positive for COVID ahead of the tournament and Ludvig "Brollan" Brolin who is reportedly being signed by NIP.
Entropiq
The Czech esports organization with its primarily Russian lineup shifted gears to go ‘4-1’ in the group stage of the tournament. NIP was the only team that was able to hand them a defeat as they managed to win eight out of the 11 maps that they played.
Instead of heavily depending on a single player, Entropiq showed great team play to beat its opposition, evident from the fact that Igor “Forester“ Bezotecheskiy, who was the best performing player for the side, only had an overall HLTV rating of 1.15 and was the seventh-best player in the group stage.
It was shocking to see G2 Esports place second last on the points table with only two wins to its name against LookingForOrg and NIP. The team was playing with François "AMANEK" Delaunay in place of Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, who had tested positive for COVID, but despite this change, the results obtained were clearly disappointing.
The ‘Group B’ matches are all set to begin this week, taking place from 16th to 20th March, and featuring teams like ENCE, FaZe Clan, FURIA Esports, Outsiders, Sprout, and Team Vitality.
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