After an amazing February, the premier level of Counter-Strike returns later this week with ESL Pro League Season XV. Just like in the previous season of EPL, we’ll be seeing one group entering the server every Wednesday until the group stage is over. Each group has six teams, and three of those will advance to the playoffs which will be played in April.
So, it’s time to take a look at the six teams stepping up to the stage this Wednesday. Group A will be kicking off things with a match between G2 and Looking for Org at 11:30 AM UTC. As a reminder, every game in this season of EPL will be played from an ESL studio in Germany. Meaning that all matches will be played in LAN format.
Now, without any further delays, here are the main takeaways from the six squads playing later this week!
ENTROPIQ – OFFLINE HITS DIFFERENTLY
Earlier this year, Entropiq was looking strong. So much, that they were holding the last spot of the top 10 at HLTV’s World Rankings. However, Entropiq lost all of their momentum last month, when they played at IEM Katowice 2022.
To be more specific, Entropiq bombed from the tournament. Besides winning a best-of-three against Renegades, they were defeated by both ENCE and MOUZ with a stand-in. In the following weeks, Entropiq returned to online tournaments, and the team didn’t fare much better, losing to the North Macedonian squad of BLUEJAYS and losing again to ENCE. Sure – they managed to win a couple of matches. But those were far below the level Entropiq is supposed to be.
Now, let’s be clear here. Entropiq mostly reached the top 10 because of how the ranking system works. Roster moves, end-of-year points decay and such all play a part in that, an Entropiq definitely was helped by it. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Entropiq is supposed to be a strong team. They have attended Majors. They have been together for some time now. This team can’t afford to drop of IEM Katowice 2022 before reaching the main stage.
So, coming to ESL Pro League Season XV, Entropiq’s objective here is clear. Prove that they aren’t a team that can only perform online. Prove that they can step out of the shadows of Gambit and Virtus.Pro. It’s time for Aleksey “NickelBack” Trofimov to show that he can lead a team to compete against the best in the world.
UNDERDOGS
Entropiq has a lot to prove, and Group A will be the perfect place to do it. There are three clear favorites to take the spots to the playoffs, and Nickelback’s team isn’t one of them. So, in order to take a step up, an upset against either G2, MOUZ or NiP will be required. Of course, they will also have to best FNATIC and Looking for Org, but that’s way more feasible.
So, Entropiq needs to do some upsets, but do they have a real chance of doing so? They definitely can! Aleksey “El1an” Gusev, Entropiq’s AWPer, didn’t had any issue at Katowice, for one, so we can expect good things out of him. Now, Igor “Forester” Bezotecheskiy and Nickelback certainly are going to need to step up their game. If they don’t, then Entropiq won’t be surprising anyone in EPL.
It won’t be long before we see if Entropiq’s question marks can perform at the level this team needs in EPL. Their first game will be a rematch from IEM Katowice 2022 against MOUZ. This time, MOUZ won’t have a stand-in, so they need to kick off things firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately, considering the ongoing situation involving the home country of most players in this roster, it’s understandable if they aren’t on peak form. It’s unfortunate, but as shown during Katowice by teams like Gambit, players are affected by what’s happening, and it’s taking a mental toll on them.
FNATIC – NO EXPECTATIONS
It’s hard to be excited for this current FNATIC roster. The team’s star, Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin, will only be with the team as a substitute, and their previous AWPer, Owen “smooya” Butterfield, don’t have any ties with the organization anymore. Instead of those two, FNATIC will be fielding two of their academy players. Those are Iulian “regali” Harjău and Peppe “Peppzor” Borak. Now, make no mistake, those are two promising names, but they need more time in the oven. They aren’t ready to compete on the level that a team like FNATIC is expected to play at.
In any case, it can’t be helped. These are the cards FNATIC, and its captain Alexander “ALEX” McMeekin have been dealt. Their objective here is realistically, win against Looking for Org, and try to put a challenge against everyone else. Any win besides LFO could be considered an upset. Unfortunately, unless this team shows something completely different than they did at the open qualifiers for the PGL Major Antwerp: European RMRs, it’s highly unlikely they manage to pull some wins.
Again, it’s an unfortunate situation, but the truth is that FNC is back to the place they were last year before signing ALEX and William “mezii” Merriman last year. At this point, once more we can just hope better days are ahead for this team. For now, though, they probably won’t be achieving much.
FNATIC is set to start their run at EPL Season XV with a match against NiP.
G2 – BACK TO ANOTHER FIGHT
G2 is coming to ESL Pro League Season XV with high expectations. After all, they’ve proven to be one of the best teams in the world already, and time will only help them. For Audric “JACKZ” Jug, Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač and Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, there’s also an extra objective here as they’ll be eager to erase any memories of what happened in the past season of Pro League, when G2 was eliminated in the group stage without a single win.
Of course, there aren’t any obvious reasons for that to happen again. G2 is under new leadership now, and this time, all games of EPL will be played on LAN, which certainly will make plenty of difference. Still, while G2 are looking great and are the favorites of Group A, G2 should’ve it’s fair share of challenges here.
Part of this challenge is coming from the other two contenders in this group, MOUZ and NiP. Both of these teams aren’t in their best forms, but they are still dangerous nonetheless. And then, we have to consider that G2 will be playing, at least for now, without their in-game leader.
STEPPING OUT
Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen tested positive for COVID-19 a day before the tournament starts. In his place, François “AMANEK” Delaunay will be stepping up. AMANEK is a highly capable player, and a very versatile one, too, but missing a player, especially a captain, will always put some extra strain on the squad. In G2’s case, fortunately, they know AMANEK, and shouldn’t have issues integrating him into their game plan.
At the end of the day, G2 will be kicking off EPL in less than perfect form. Even so, considering their group, G2 should make to the playoffs without any issues, and first place still is very attainable for this squad. Also, G2’s first opponent, LFO, certainly will be perfect to help AMANEK settle in until Aleksib returns and adjust themselves so they can prepare for any threat coming later on this week.
LOOKING FOR ORG – ALSO LOOKING FOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO STRIKE
Coming from Australia, LFO, led by Benson “Liki” Niuila, is coming to EPL Season XV, the biggest event they attended in quite a while. Unfortunately, though, LFO hasn’t done very well as of recently. Most recently, the squad failed to qualify for the PGL Major Antwerp: Asia-Pacific RMR, and with that, their hopes of attending the upcoming CSGO Major are over.
Well, their hopes for a good showing at Pro League are still on, but there’s no denying it. It’s going to be incredibly hard for LFO to get a single win in Group A. Even if one puts aside the three favorites, it’s hard to see this roster winning against Entropiq or FNATIC too. When taking in consideration how EPL currently works, nothing short of a miracle run will cut for LFO to reach the playoffs.
Still, it’s not like results are all that matter for teams coming from the APAC region nowadays. Since the pandemic hit, the region has been negatively impacted, and opportunities like these are perfect so these rosters can get some much-needed international experiences. Most importantly, EPL format doesn’t favour LFO’s chances of hitting the playoffs. However, it does allow them to face a variety of squads which will give them some material to study.
It’s a shame to see such promising regions like Asia and Oceania in their current states. Yet, we’re now seeing the beginning stages of their recovery, and it’s only by attending those events, even if these teams are absolute underdogs, that this process will advance forward.
Looking for Org will be facing G2 in their first game at EPL Season XV.
MOUZ – NOW WITH THEIR FULL ROSTER
During IEM Katowice 2022, MOUZ impressed. Many fans had doubts about this roster, these doubts being mostly related to Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt who has just returned from VALORANT. While there are some questions left for this team, it’s now clear that this roster has potential with NBK. Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás has shown to be an incredible pickup for the AWPer role, and they are going to be key for this team’s success going forward.
However, MOUZ left early in Katowice – and they can’t be really blamed for it. The team played with one of their academy players instead of Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras. Now, heading to EPL, Bymas is back with MOUZ, and this will be the first tournament of 2022 where we’ll be watching what MOUZ’ full roster can do.
Expectations are high. Again, MOUZ did perform well in Katowice, and coming to the opening group of EPL, they shouldn’t have issues getting a spot in the playoffs. Despite G2 and NiP, the remaining three teams will come as underdogs when playing against MOUZ. This means that losing for Entropiq, for example, would already be considered a disappointing result.
Moreover, the pressure is on, especially on the returning player. Jon “JDC” de Castro, the stand-in for MOUZ in Katowice caught the eyes of many then. Now, Bymas is coming knowing that a very capable player is ready to take his place on this roster. Bymas needs to show why MOUZ is keeping him on the main team. He’ll be under the strict magnifying glasses of the community from now. There’s very room for mistake for MOUZ, and even less for Bymas.
We’ll be seeing whether MOUZ can live up to the expectations starting this Wednesday as they take on Entropiq.
NiP – STILL DEVICE-LESS
NiP is coming for another tournament without their main AWPer. It’s no surprise to see Love “phzy” Smidebrant once again taking the AWPer role on the team, but the community is starting to get worried. As for NiP, the team clearly wants to prepare for the future, and this situation is far from ideal.
Still, NiP is actually doing a solid job without their supposed-to-be world-class AWPer. Sure, phzy still is making some beginner mistakes as he adapts to this tier of competition. Also, Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzalez Zamora form, while better, still is far from great. Even so, Hampus “hampus” Poser is putting a colossal effort in the server, Fredrik “REZ” Sterner still is very competent with the rifles, and phzy is actually doing well.
Fortunately for NiP, this group will give this incomplete roster a lot of opportunities, and they should be one of the teams advancing forward in the tournament. We can see them dropping a map to the likes of Entropiq and MOUZ, but anything more than that would definitely raise some eyebrows.
The deal with NiP at this point in time is that, like mentioned above, they aren’t playing under ideal conditions. This roster with Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz wouldn’t be on the same level as G2. Yet, fans wouldn’t have doubts about their chances against a team like MOUZ, for example. Of course, this situation isn’t device or NiP’s fault, but still is disappointing to see the legendary organization falling to reach the standards they set back when they signed the Danish AWPer last year. They should have a roster contending for trophies. Or, at the very least, one able to consistently reach semi-finals.
NiP will debut in ESL Pro League Season XV facing FNATIC.
ESL Pro League Season XV starts shortly
Make sure to tune on ESL’s channels this Wednesday as EPL kicks off then! And in order to not miss a beat, make sure to also follow us here!
