ESL Pro League: A Deep Group-B Recap

ESL Pro League Group Stage continues, with Group A being concluded last week. The second week of the tournament has brought another wave of shocks, with heavy lifters being shown their place in the mud. The underdogs have prevailed here, and CS:GO keeps getting more and more competitive.

Anyone would’ve expected one of ENCE and FURIA to be fighting for their lives as Number 3 and 4. They blew all of that away and created a unique storyline for Group B.

Here is how the table looks:

1. FURIA
2. ENCE
3. FaZe Clan
4. Team Vitality
5. Outsiders (Virtus Pro squad)
6. Sprout

These ranks definitely warrant some explanations. Soooo, here’s what happened.

Another Vitality Disaster

Vitality’s honeymoon period is officially over, and their performance here in Dusseldorf goes hand in hand with their Katowice Group Stage disaster. Back to back 2-0 losses against Heroic and Gambit in Katowice proved that Vitality wasn’t ready yet to take on the big guns of the CS world. And two months before the Major, ESL Pro League confirmed that.

Vitality started their journey against the weakest team in the group: Sprout. The first map was Dust 2, where a good CT side first half meant the game was already over midway. The second map was much stronger from Sprout, though. Vitality had to take the fight into double overtime before finally dispatching the World Number 30. Was it a one-off incident of weakness from Vitality or was it something other teams could build on?

The second match was against ENCE, the team that had surprisingly defeated FaZe Clan. ENCE made their intentions clear after brushing aside Vitality with a 2-0 win. They were here to play. Vitality lost Mirage 16-8 and were simply outclassed in both halves. On Dust 2, Vitality finally won a half, 8-7, but ENCE’s blazing attacks cut through Vitality’s defense way too many times than it should’ve. Vitality lost the second half 9-3, the map 16-11, and the match 2-0.

Chalking that loss off to some EZ4ENCE magic was difficult, for what a revamped FURIA did next definitely hurt Vitality a lot. On FURIA’s map pick of Vertigo, Vitality lost 16-4, an unjustifiable situation. There was only one way to look after that humiliation: forward. And forward the ex-Astralis stars looked. A promising affair on Inferno took the game to Nuke. FURIA won the half 9-6 but soon lost the lead and fell down 10-12. Despite that, they found a way to grind out the rounds, and a back-and-forth affair later, they had won 16-14.

Vitality had suffered their second defeat and with both FaZe and Vitality sitting at 1-2, it was time for them to face each other in an elimination match.

The match started on FaZe’s pick of Mirage, where they started on the T side. Vitality’s CT side was not the strongest, as they lost the first half 10-5. The second half needed a statement of strength, but both the teams split the rounds equally, meaning FaZe reached the finish line first.

It was not a good first map by Vitality, but not very bad either. The second map was their pick of Dust 2, and surely they’d do better, right? WRONG. A toothless Vitality got blown away 16-2. One of those rounds was down to the individual brilliance of Magisk. It was a complete disaster, and it aptly embodied how far behind Vitality is from the elite teams.

The final match was meaningless for Vitality, as they had been eliminated already. But they won it 2-0 against VP. Good news? Sure, but with a tinge of distaste in it, because that win helped FaZe qualify for the Playoffs. So in a way, FaZe defeated Vitality twice in two days.

.@FaZeClan ? @TeamVitality #ESLProLeague #EPLMemeReview pic.twitter.com/hzajNfyG6k

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) March 20, 2022

Rough days, but I hope zonic and apeX can figure out the winning formula in time for the Major, and use Counter-Strike’s Chosen One to win in Antwerp.

FaZe Clan On The Edge

The highlight of the IEM Katowice Champion’s run here was their harrowing defense in the start of the group. It wasn’t a bad defense, it was a disaster. Luckily for them, they had fixed their issues before the Vitality game and avoided a humiliating Group Stage exit, like G2.

Their first match was against ENCE. FaZe were obviously the clear favourites and that’s exactly the face they wore on Nuke. A poor offensive half from ENCE meant FaZe were 11-4 up as CTs. ENCE upped their game in the second half, but zonic’s law couldn’t hold anymore, as FaZe won the map.

The second map really put their defensive incapabilities in a full bright-light seat-full show.

After narrowly losing the first half of Dust 2 8-7, FaZe Clan completely faltered in their defensive half. ENCE won 8-0, conceding not a single round, as they won the map 16-7. The last map wasn’t very promising either for FaZe, as they lost the map 16-13, and the match 2-1.

Against VP, playing as Outsiders, Inferno was an even bigger disaster than Dust 2 was against ENCE. After winning the first half 8-7 as Terrorists, FaZe lost the second half 9-0 in their CT side. They couldn’t defend at all. Results like 8-0 and 9-0 in successive days are beyond abysmal. The second map was a good sign of their offense, but their poor defense caught up to them in double overtime, ensuring a 2-0 loss for the international squad.

FaZe were one loss away from elimination. With their backs against the walls, there was only one option to make this comeback happen and qualify for Playoffs: fix their defensive issues. They had a sweet buffer in their third match, as they faced Sprout. Sprout were the weakest team of the group, and unsurprisingly, FaZe defeated them 2-0.

As discussed earlier, FaZe managed to defeat Vitality in the most important match of the group. ‘Blow away’ might be the better word, as Vitality lost 16-2 on the second map.

Despite this win, FaZe’s chances to qualify were very low. Their final match was against the undefeated FURIA, and even beating them was not a guarantee for qualification. Vitality had to defeat VP for FaZe to have a chance to qualify. This is because if FaZe and VP had the same number of points, VP would be placed ahead because of their head-to-head advantage over FaZe.

Well, things worked out perfectly for the international squad. A weakened Vitality somehow defeated VP 2-0 and FaZe defeated FURIA to win the match 2-1.

The map that they lost was because of their lack of ideas on the attacking side. They were 11-4 down on the second map, Inferno, and though their defense had improved, it wasn’t good enough to make the comeback happen. That was the least of their worries, though, as FaZe won the other two maps, 10-5 CT side first-half wins in both.

Playoff bound at Pro League ? pic.twitter.com/4PAP0nVFgl

— FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) March 20, 2022

Just like that, the IEM Katowice Champions had averted a certain catastrophe here and successfully made it to the Round of 12.

ENCE and FURIA’s Upsets

ENCE’s dream run in Group B is the beauty of Counter-Strike. ENCE were dealt the worst cards to start the group: matches against FaZe, Vitality, and VP, successively. Any rational fan would suggest that going down 0-3 and then trying to win against the final 2 was the only way to maintain dignity as they waved Dusseldorf goodbye.

ENCE took that advice and threw it out the window. They completely bossed the group. They made a comeback victory against FaZe, 2-0ed Vitality, and 2-0ed VP as well.

Make lemonade out of lemons life throws at you? ENCE created Minute Maid out of rotten grapes.

ENCE had done more than enough and qualified for the Playoffs by defeating the three golden teams of the group. The next match was against FURIA, and much like ENCE, FURIA had demolished all in their way too to get a 3-0 score. Victories against VP, Vitality and Sprout meant FURIA were pretty much in the same boat as ENCE.

And now they faced each other in the fourth round to decide who will be the Group winner. Though ENCE started well by winning the first map, FURIA bounced back with a mini-comeback in the following two maps, and they had ensured their Number 1 spot in this group of death.

The fifth round didn’t matter to either team. Regardless, FURIA couldn’t manage what ENCE did: defeat FaZe. One can put it down to lack of motivation, but the truth remains unchanged.

Both FURIA and ENCE ended the group 4-1, Rank 1 and 2, respectively. Vitality and VP had lost their places, and it was a huge upset, an entertaining story.

That's all for #ESLProLeague group B! Here are the final standings! ?

? @FURIA
? @ENCE
? @FaZeClan
#4 @TeamVitality
#5 Outsiders
#6 @sproutGG

Thanks for watching! We still have TWO more groups left to play over the next couple weeks! ? pic.twitter.com/KhS0usYJCy

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) March 20, 2022

Group C doesn’t seem to have the same potential for entertainment packed in it, though. Gambit, BIG, and Liquid seem to be the clear favorites. The other 3… minnows.

A pretty straightforward group with predictable results, I’d say. Unless……