The groups for ESL Pro League S17 have been announced. ESL announced the teams of 4 different groups of the tournament consisting of 32 teams on its official Twitter account.
The teams that will compete in ESL Pro League S17 will start on February 22. And it will come together with the new format. The ESL recently announced the format change that it has expanded from 24 teams to 32 teams. With this change, participating teams will play in a triple elimination format. As the losing team continues from the Lower Bracket,
Teams falling from the Lower will finally try to get out of the groups at the Last Chance Stage.
The top four teams will advance to the various stages of the playoffs. The teams that come first in the groups will advance to the quarterfinals, the teams that come second will go to the second round, and the teams that come in third and fourth will go to the first round of the qualifying group.
Groups and Teams
Group A
- Outsiders
- G2
- Cloud9
- fnatic
- MIBR
- Evil Geniuses
- Eternal Fire
- IHC
Group B
- Heroic
- MOUZ
- FURIA
- BIG
- Complexity
- Imperial
- SAW
- Movistar Riders
Group C
- FaZe
- Vitality
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- OG
- 00NATION
- paiN
- Grayhound
- Rooster
Group D
- Liquid
- Natus Vincere
- ENCE
- Spirit
- Astralis
- ATK
- forZe
- Rare Atom
The strongest teams of group A are G2, Cloud9 and Outsiders. There are 3 teams in the top 10 in the group where teams such as Fnatic, MIBR, Evil Geniuses, Eternal Fire remain in the background. BLAST Premier World Finals Champions G2 Esports, IEM Rio Major winners Outsiders and Cloud9 are currently the tournament favourites.
One of the best teams in group B will be Heroic, who finished second in IEM Rio and won the title in the BLAST Premier Fall Final. It is obvious that teams such as MOUZ and FURIA will join Heroic in the race and this is expected to catch the best series. Together with BIG, Complexity, Imperial, SAW and Movistar Riders, Group B is fully completed.
In Group C, there are teams like FaZe Clan and Vitality, which we all love. These teams started the 2023 season quickly and their match will be one to watch. In addition to these teams there are NIP, OG, 00NATION, paiN, Grayhound and Rooster.
One of the groups that is thought to be the easiest group can definitely be called the D group. Although it seems like an easy bite to be the only strong opponents Liquid and NAVI, dev1ce returning to Astralis is expected to surprise in group D. These teams are also accompanied by ENCE, Team Spirit, ATK, forZe and Rare Atom.
Opening Matches
Group A
- Outsiders vs. IHC
- MIBR vs. fnatic
- Cloud9 vs. Evil Geniuses
- G2 vs. Eternal Fire
Group B
- Heroic vs. Movistar Riders
- BIG vs. Complexity
- Imperial vs. FURIA
- SAW vs. MOUZ
Group C
- FaZe vs. Rooster
- paiN vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
- OG vs. 00NATION
- Vitality vs. Grayhound
Group D
- Liquid vs. Rare Atom
- ATK vs. ENCE
- Spirit vs. Astralis
- Natus Vincere vs. forZe
Groups stage can be followed from ESL’s official Twitch account.
