Pro League NA finalists decided

14-10-2016 15:27

The last matches in the North American division of the ESL Pro League Season 4 have been played and six teams which will be at the Finals in São Paulo have been decided.

A two-month campaign featuring fourteen teams in the North American division has come to an end as six teams qualified for the $750,000 Finals.

Top of the table features Cloud9, who lost only one match during their twenty-six game tenure, barely missing an undefeated season.

Cloud9 had a comfortable season

Two Brazilian teams—Immortals and SK—followed them, qualifying for the Finals which will take place in their homeland. OpTic and NRG also secured their spots in Brazil.

Although Renegades finished fourth and booked their tickets at the Finals, the Aussies won't be able to make it to Brazil as they will be attending the Asia Minor. Liquid, who finished the season seventh, will replace them.

ESL Pro League Season 4 – Europe standings are below:

1. Cloud9 - spot at ESL Pro League S4 Finals

2. Immortals - spot at ESL Pro League S4 Finals

3. SK - spot at ESL Pro League S4 Finals

4. Renegades - $18,000

5. OpTic - spot at ESL Pro League S4 Finals

6. NRG - spot at ESL Pro League S4 Finals

7. Liquid - spot at ESL Pro League S4 Finals

8. Echo Fox - $15,500

9. CLG - $13,000

10. Winterfox - $10,500

11. Complexity - $8,000

12. Selfless - $5,500 (Relegation vs. 3rd placed in Premier)

13. Splyce - $3,000 (Relegation vs. 2nd placed in Premier)

14. eUnited - $1,500 (relegated to Premier division)

The European division finalists were determined earlier and the complete team list for the ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals can be found below:

fnatic	Ninjas in Pyjamas	MOUZ	FaZe
Envy	Dignitas	Cloud9	Immortals
SK	OpTic	NRG	Liquid

You can learn more information about the ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals which will run from October 26-30 on our event page.

BenjaCS is a staff writer at HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter.

easy for cloud9

2016-10-14 15:27

29 replies

hahaha eunited once again premier , expected from a retarded caller

2016-10-14 15:29

6 replies

-NRG +EchoFox and you actually have a sick finals from the NA side of the equation. Obviously the EU side is a bit lacking. SK is prolly gonna destroy this tournament. Home field advantage and the tournament is lacking VP and NaVi, SK's 2 biggest rivals.

2016-10-14 15:41

5 replies

SK gonna be challenged by NiP this time m9

2016-10-14 15:42

2 replies

I think NiP could challenge them yes, but I doubt they will actually be able to win. I also think NiP could get challenged by other teams (particularly Liquid and Dignitas and potentially Immortals and Fnatic as well) so they might not even get the chance to face SK.

2016-10-14 16:12

1 reply

no man , this time nip will do it . remember how nip on lan recovered from 13-2 on mirage ?? with lele in and magiken in good form , they might as well just do it this time

2016-10-14 16:13

TSM much better than echo fox

2016-10-14 17:56

TSM is overrated as fuck. They got famous because Astralis was retarded and decided to play Cobble against them (famously TSM's best map and one of Astralis' worst). They also beat pre-Autimatic C9 (not much of a feat). In ELeauge they did manage to put up 10+ rounds in 7 of their 9 maps, but they only won 1 of them, and other than Fnatic they had a fairly easy group. In their most recent LAN Northern Arena they lost BO3s to Echo Fox and Optic. Personally I have TSM right behind Echo Fox. My best of teams that play in NA would be the following: 1. SK 2. Liquid 3. C9 4. Immortals 5. Optic 6. Echo Fox 7. TSM 8. Renegades 9. The rest don't fucking matter...

2016-10-14 18:14

why isn't renegades qualified when they're 4th?

2016-10-14 15:38

21 replies

"Aussies won't be able to make it to Brazil as they will be attending the Asia Minor."

2016-10-14 15:40

20 replies

Shamefull for Liquid ... The League should have a BO3 between Liquidd and Echo Fox as a decider since neither has qualified directly...

2016-10-14 15:43

18 replies

Liquid would've won anyway, doesn't matter mate

2016-10-14 15:50

echo fox has already beaten liquid in a bo3, so who knows.

2016-10-14 15:51

2 BO3s actually if you count them 2-0ing Liquid in Pro League as a basically a BO3. Regardless it doesn't matter cause Liquid beat them by 2 games anyway, it isn't like with Dignitas and VP where they were tied. Wish we could somehow get Echo Fox in over NRG however :/ at least Echo Fox has some upset potential unlike NRG.

2016-10-14 16:15

yeah liquid gets the spot, no need to play a bo3 they lead by a few game, i was just pointing out if it came to that anything could happen.

2016-10-14 17:00

I do think they have 75% chance of beating them, I just mean it should be fair since it wasn´t predicted ... similar to last spot tie breaker for EU (I know EF and liquid did not tie in points).

2016-10-14 15:53

Doesn't fucking matter, refer to posts #51 and #54, exactly what I was going to say

2016-10-14 15:54

regular season finished with Liquid out of the top6, and I´m not saying that EF deserve the spot, I just think it could have impacted the qualifiers in other ways ... if RNG were out all along classification would have gone differently, that´s why its unreasonable to have gone this way ... once again is just my opinion

2016-10-14 17:46

why? they finished above echo fox, I don't see the problem here...

Why? Liquid won 2 matches more! They weren't tied!

3 replies

I don´t agree with hand-down berths for Majors, its unfair with the rest of the teams since it wasn´t predicted in the rule book

I'm sure somewhere in the ESL rulebook that they give to the teams it says that if a team is unable to attend the finals that it goes to the next best seed.

2016-10-14 17:29

unable to attend an event is different then going through the season as a whole, impacting the results of everyone involved in the championship and handing down the spot to Liquid ... if you take Renegades out of the championship liquid would have finished in the 8th spot (sorry but it took me ages to recalculate)

2016-10-14 17:48

No, Liquid won 15 games while Echo Fox only won 13. Therefore, Liquid obtained 45 points while Echo Fox only obtained 39 points. Liquid qualified directly once RNG could no longer attend the finals. You probably looked at a non-updated version of the standings early last night.

2016-10-14 17:18

No, I did look as I know what happened, RNG chose not to attend and the logic I´m following is that no had-down Major berths should come through direct qualification. You should check with the payers that actually qualified between 1-6 spots what they think bout it ... it was no predicted in the rulebook, I´m just saying the following 2 teams should matchup on BO3 since within the regular season neither got enough points to go through. That´s just my opinion

2016-10-14 17:39

4 replies

why should the 8th seed get the same chance as the 7th seed if the 7th seed clearly did better over the season? if you do this precedent, then that's like saying "Who says seed 3 should go to finals, there should be a bo3 playoffs with seed 9" it doesnt make sense

2016-10-14 19:05

do the math and take out the points and results that RNG had along the way ... do the math and then we talk ... you´ll see that Liquid wouldn´t be #7 therefore I still believe its not a fair way of advancing

2016-10-14 19:09

so because RNG choose not to attend the finals, that means we should discredit the teams of the points they earned after beating them during the season? how in the world does that make sense?

2016-10-14 19:10

easy m8 .. there is no comprehending a matter if don´t want to try to understand ... that´s the principle ... you are disagreeing and wanting me to further detail something you are already prompt to dismiss ... its all good, already chatting to other people who do value my point of view. But its OK if we disagree, I don´t see a reason to convince you on this subject that you already have your convictions. I choose to respect your opinion ;D

2016-10-14 19:12

lol ez for people who actually read article xD

2016-10-14 17:12

haha noob

2016-10-14 15:28

C9 will win

2016-10-14 15:30

^ez

lawlno, C9 will do good, don't get me wrong, but they can't beat NIP or SK. They are not at that level yet. If C9 wants to become top 1, they need to do the following: -Shroud +NiKo. If they do that then they will become a legitmate challenger for the #1 team in the world instead of what they are now which is a sort of best of the rest team that can beat anyone outside of the top 5 but gets destroyed by anyone inside the top 5.

2016-10-14 15:45

I am obviously not 100% serious, I can see them at least getting out of the groups but realistically they just CAN'T win. Also -shroud +niko seems like an interesting move even though I like shroud, but NiKo apparently wants to waste his time in mousesports achieving nothing, so won't happen sadly

2016-10-14 15:47

Yeah I like Shroud a lot too, but I can't see this team improving much while he is in his current form (or lack there of), either him or Skadoodle has to go (cause I think those two guys are the ones holding C9 back right now) and since NiKo obviously isn't an AWPer it would have to be Shroud being replaced if that move were to happen.

2016-10-14 16:21

hi jonathan e pls no ban

NRG Best german team NA PogChamp

ez for nip

cool NA has 14 teams in the league,out of which 7 are complete shite,2 are average and 5 are great/good teams. Jesus. Then you have VP,navi and G2 not getting slots in EU 4head Even flipside would finish in the top 7 in NA

7 replies

You're as autistic as Thorin.

nt subzera

you got me

2016-10-14 15:31

So he isn't autistic then. Good to know.

2016-10-14 15:46

you're a good detective, Sherlock.

They could always come here and play in this division. And probably do worse than people think.

2016-10-14 16:06

I actually want NA to do better,but teams like Eunited playing in the pro league is just a joke man.

2016-10-14 17:34

yas

expected

Virtus pro. LUL

stewert two thousandd!

EZ NIP

FeelBad for Renegades :(

I wonder what the seeding will look like.

Groups are NA1 EU2 NA3 EU4 NA5 EU6 and EU1 NA2 EU3 NA4 EU5 NA6 so c9 nip sk faze nrg dig and fnatic immortals mouz optic nv liquid

Assuming that is true, group A is a hell group (at least for the top 4 teams there). On a side note, are they going to do this like IEM Katowice/Oakland with a BO1 Round Robin and the top 6 get in?

2016-10-14 15:48

i think its gonna be like katowice, and the 5th and 6th team from each group gonna be eliminated

2016-10-14 15:55

I looked into it and it will be the exact same as Katowice (and how IEM Oakland will be) was this year. Top 3 qualify into the playoffs with the #1 seed getting a bye into the semifinals. The #2 seed of group A faces the #3 seed of group B, and the winner of that faces the #1 seed of group B (and vice versa).

2016-10-14 16:26

If that's the case, NRG are seeded fourth according to round differentials

lmfao group b is so much worse than group a

2016-10-14 16:23

"NA" LUL

NO MONEY FOR RENEGADES LOL

Renegades - $18,000

HLTV writer using IE LUL im joking

eZ for the (4) Gemans ^^

2016-10-14 15:33

liquid doesnt even deserve it. lucky that renegades decided this way

2016-10-14 15:35

1.Cloud9 2.Immortals 3.SK Gaming 4.NRG Esports 5.OpTic Gaming 6.Renegades 7.Team Liquid HLTV messed up the ranking

2016-10-14 15:36

play.esea.net/index.php?s=league&d=stand..

even by that they still got it wrong cause they have Renegades at 4 and Optic at 5.

2016-10-14 15:49

Is this a "must-win" torunament 4 SK-Gaming? Immortals has everthing to be at top 4 My prediction: 1 - SK-Gaming 2 - NiP 3 - Liquid 4 - Immortals 6 - dignitas 7 - EnVyUs 8 - fnatic 9 - mousesports 10 - Optic 11 - Cloud9 12 - NRG

27 replies

well ... event though I´d luv to see it happenning I don´t believe it´ll end up that way

17 replies

believe me boy

Yeah, SK is gonna win, however Immortals 4th is a bit of a stretch and C9 is certainly not coming in 11th. Also he skipped Faze lawl. I also think Dignitas is going to do really well, they came insanely close to upsetting G2 and VP in Starladder/Bucharest respectively and I think this time they are going to actually pull through and get a big upset over NIP. Personally I would go: 1. SK 2. Dignitas 3. NIP 4. Liquid 5. Cloud 9 6. Fnatic 7. Immortals 8. Optic 9. EnVyUs 10. Mousesports 11. Faze 12. NRG (thanks for showing up guys, have fun getting analed)

2016-10-14 15:56

15 replies

It's hard to see dig beating NiP but who knows my prediction is corrected on #63

2016-10-14 16:00

After looking at what I believe the groups will be this is looking like it will be an incredibly interesting group stage. Group A will have SK, NIP, C9, and Dignitas (As well as Faze and NRG, but they are gonna get destroyed). So one of those teams is going to miss the playoffs and I think it will be an interesting fight between NIP, C9, and Dignitas (I doubt SK will run into much trouble, but you never know) for those last two spots. The other group is going to be Immortals, Liquid, Optic, Fnatic, Mousesports, and EnVyUs. Any of those teams could easily make it out (and any of those teams could easily get knocked out) so I think that will be an insanely intense group.

2016-10-14 17:58

Yeap There is a point Id like to mention, I think Immortals will play crazily good.

2016-10-14 18:16

Yeah I think Immortals is a bit under the radar currently considering they beat Cloud 9 in the finals of Northern Arena (admittedly it was incredibly close), a team that everyone is hyping to be top 5 material. I think Immortals has a great shot of going deep. Personally I have them losing in the quarter-finals to Dignitas in a really close series, but I think they should definitely make it out of their group and depending on who they get could easily make Semis and maybe even the finals.

2016-10-14 18:24

Could you think about it? SK vs Immortals in finals LUL Brazilian dream but It would be really boring cuz SK'd demolish them

2016-10-14 18:30

I'm not 100% sure that SK would demolish Immortals due to the fact that they have played each other so much (similar to how Heroic won Power-LAN even though Astralis and Dignitas are arguably much better teams). SK did beat Immortals in the finals of Dreamhack Austin (16-9, 16-9) however back then Immortals had Shoowtime who we all know from Coldzera lacks basic CS skills. I doubt Immortals would actually be able to win it, but I think they could at least make it competitive. That 2nd finals spot could easily go to a good 5 or 6 teams.

2016-10-14 18:42

Well, There are some reasons I said that... 1 - Finals in Brazil 2 - SK would be really confident playing vs IMT 3 - IMT wouldnt have the same cofidence vs SK (believe me) 4 - SK's map pool to deep for them 5 - All of SK's players would toy with them. I can't see IMT winning or making it even competitive... My opinion of course

2016-10-14 18:45

Yeah I think there are so many unknowns that it could go any possible way lawl. For instance, if you told me that SK and NIP were on the same side of the bracket (so they wouldn't be able to face in the finals) and asked me who the 2nd finalist would be I could realistically see pretty much any team other than NRG and Faze (although the chances of Mouz or nV getting there I think would be very slim), there are just so many teams that have looked like they have the potential to be great (Optic for instance nearly making it to the playoffs in ESL New York). Even if you said that they had to go through NIP I could still see 5 or 6 other teams being able to make it to the finals.

2016-10-14 18:54

I think NA teams (not SK in this particullar case) will suffer a bit in this event cuz of the format, since EU Teams have had so far a more competitive start of the season than the NA teams and it would affect the results a lot. I think that from the bottom up the teams will be NRG, Optic, Fnatic, liquid, Mousesports, NV, Faze, IMT, Dignitas, C9, NIP and SK taking the Cup at home ... Anything is possible ... just opinions here but its going to be a fun tournament to follow ...

I actually think it will help NA teams due to most of them having weak map pools. We also obviously saw in ESL New York (which while in a different format was still 5 BO1s) Liquid make the playoffs and Optic be 2 rounds away from doing the same.

2016-10-14 16:14

Round robin is a whole different game imho but is up for grabs, I did follow both qualifiers just can´t see the NA teams having to work around their skill to outclass the Europeans (which has happened in the past) ... in the other hand the Swedish teams are no longer in their prime, Faze has had its up and downs, same with mousesports ... SK has been inconsistent as never seen before... Kinda hard to predict without NA´VI, VP, G2 and Godsent in the mix... its up for grabs

Godsent lawl... But yeah, it will certainly be interesting. I believe the groups will be: NA 1, 3, 5 + EU 2, 4, and 6 and NA 2, 4, 6, + EU 1, 3, and 5. If that were true then group A would be C9, NIP, SK, Faze, NRG, and Dignitas. And group B would be Fnatic, Immortals, Mousesports, Optic, EnVyUs, and Liquid. If those are the groups then NA is geting really lucky in group B (they could easily all get out of that group), while in group A one really good team is getting screwed there.

2016-10-14 16:45

right on the buzzer m8!! just got released !!

2016-10-14 18:52

yeah, got the groups swapped though :(

2016-10-14 18:57

you got an A+ anyways !!

2016-10-14 19:04

Terrible bait 1.FNATIC

correcting #35 5 -dignitas 6 - EnVyUs 7 - fnatic 8 - mousesports 9 - FaZe 10 - Optic 11 - Cloud9 12 - NRG

2016-10-14 15:58

faze?

2016-10-14 16:01

corrected #63

faze higher than na teams? this isnt online brotha

Possible tho, believe or not but I think Allu will bring something good for FaZe, They might place even higher Cloud9 4 me is really hard to predict. They can peform really well and place at top 4/5 or just finish at the bottom

2016-10-14 16:04

too early too call predicts and match ups havent been drawn yet, optic and c9 to upset. Imt need to drop zews

relax :v Just firt thoughts

NRG LUL I wanted to see RNG on lan rip

Yeah, but even if that had happen then it would have been Liquid getting bounced out.

Yeah, very unfortunate. They played a really good season

2016-10-15 00:20

godwell vs godwel hype

NRG lel

NRG would be t3 in EU, this tournament is a joke

NRG got in fairly by beating teams like Echo Fox and Liquid. If you want to blame anything, blame NA for having such weak teams once you get into the bottom half. That allows teams like NRG to get in just by having 1 or 2 upsets as long as they don't lose to shit tier teams like Splyce, eUnited, and Complexity, which they didn't.

Really nice teams over-all, would have prefered Na'Vi, VP or G2 instead of Faze and mouz though.

2016-10-14 15:59

Would have also liked to see Echo Fox over NRG. I know Echo Fox isn't much better but they have beaten Optic in a BO3 at Northern Arena and nearly beat Immortals there as well, so at least they have some sort of upset potential unlike NRG.

2016-10-14 16:02

Yeah maybe, I don't follow the American scene that much.

na navi no funny

w/o VP,Na`Vi is gonna be "boring" but It might be a really fun even cuz there are new teams and possible upset teams :D

2016-10-14 16:07

Yeah, because of the lack of NaVi and VP I kinda wish SK wasn't there because now it basically makes it a fight for 2nd. If there was no SK then it would be really cool to see who is the "best of the rest" and could become the next team to challenge those teams.

no navi or vp but we have nrg LUL

2016-10-14 16:10

Optic ezz i hope

2016-10-14 16:18

FaZeezzzzzz

2016-10-14 16:24

rip cJ's invited dreams ;^(

2016-10-14 16:28

my money's on SK to win it all

2016-10-14 16:33

pretty obvious bet when there's no Na'Vi or VP in the event

2016-10-14 17:13

Yeah, NIP is really the only team with a chance at an upset and NIP I think is going to have a hard time since I think there are a lot of teams that could upset them (particularly Dignitas and Liquid). I think Dignitas and Liquid could also put up a fight against SK but they would need a miracle to actually beat them. Other than that I don't see anyone challenging SK.

2016-10-14 18:02