ESL release Pro League Finals groups

14-10-2016 18:51

ESL have released groups for ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals, taking place from October 26-30 in São Paulo, Brazil.

All teams attending the $750,000 Finals in São Paulo were determined yesterday, as both divisions came to a close and six teams advanced from each region.

The format has seen significant changes, as the twelve teams were distributed among two groups, which will be played in a best-of-one round-robin system.

Cloud9 placed in Group B alongside NiP, SK, FaZe, NRG and dignitas

Teams who place first advance directly to semi-finals, while second and third placed teams will fight it out in the quarter-finals.

Earlier today ESL released the groups, which were determined according to the teams' placing in the regular season:

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

A provisional schedule looks as follows:

Wednesday, October 26th
14:30	Group A matches #1 to #5
21:00	Group B matches #1 to #4

Thursday, October 27th
14:30	Group A matches #6 to #9
19:45	Group B matches #5 to #9

Friday, October 28th
14:30	Group A matches #10 to #15
21:00	Group B matches #10 to #15

Saturday, October 29th
19:00	Quarter-final #1
22:30	Quarter-final #2

Sunday, October 30th
14:30	Semi-final #1
19:00	Semi-final #2
22:30	Grand final

The first two days will be closed off to the public, as they will be played in ESL studios. The competition will then move to Ginásio do Ibirapuera stadium from Friday on.

gl faze

2016-10-14 18:50

25 replies

so fast

4 replies

so faze

2016-10-14 18:54

3 replies

ez 4 nip and favelas

2016-10-14 18:57

2 replies

ez NRG.

2016-10-14 19:01

1 reply

Ez 4 FaZe

2016-10-14 21:16

Groups are nice for Envy Group B is so hard dude

2016-10-14 18:51

11 replies

I think that group A are more "in same level" and the group B has SK and NiP much upper in LAN results than the others.

2016-10-14 18:53

10 replies

group b ez 4 nip and sk NRG? ez eliminated

2016-10-14 18:58

^ this, Group A should be much harder to predict

2016-10-15 01:09

err, atm immortal is the best Nv i have 0 word Fnatic isn't that bad liquid same as s3 choked by nip Optic idk but still good mousesport seldom watch them play lan

2016-10-15 04:29

Yeah, group A could go any possible way (however I think it is pretty likely that Liquid and Immortals get out), Group B I also think will be interesting between NIP, C9, and Dig fighting for the last two playoff spots. I also think NA lucked out hard with group A. I think there is a very strong chance of all 3 NA teams making it out of group A.

2016-10-14 19:00

why liquid lol, i think it will be immortals tbh

2016-10-14 20:05

Liquid mainly based on how they played against teams like NaVi, G2, Astralis, and Fnatic in ESL NY. If they can compete with and beat those teams I don't see them having much trouble with teams like EnVyUs, Mousesports, and Optic.

2016-10-14 20:24

oh sry, my bad. for some reason i read immortals instead of liquid...

2016-10-14 20:29

well, tbh group B is really harder you have NiP, SK, C9 (23-1 so far in Season 4), it will be hard for NRG/Faze/Dig to grab last spots

In group A every one can pass to playoffs I can't do any predictions

2016-10-14 19:03

The 25-1 is online doesn't show much. Dignitas is in a weird spot because their LAN BO3 wins have been against Faze, Flipsid3, Godsent, and Heroic (even good tier 2 teams (with the exception of maybe Heroic)). However their losses were to G2 and Virtus Pro, and it wasn't like they were blown out like C9 when they faced NIP and VP. They lossed 16-13, 16-12 against G2 and while they got blown out 16-4 map 1 against VP, they won 16-14 to send it to the final map which they only lost 16-13. So they have shown that they can compete with some of the best in the world.

2016-10-15 00:38

EZ 4 ENCE

2016-10-14 19:02

ESL release Pro League Finals groups By: Striker Time: 2016-10-14 18:51 NEAKON #1 gl faze Post edited 2016-10-14 18:50:52 2016-10-14 18:50:41 made 18:51 1st post 18:50 kkk

2016-10-14 19:10

vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/someordinar..

2016-10-14 19:36

THERE IS SOMETHING YOU GUYS HAVE NEVER SEEN: BRAZILIAN CROUND IN ACTION. IMT X SK FINALS. I BET MY BALLS.

2016-10-14 19:50

you better have a stream of you chopping your balls off if that doesn't happen.

2016-10-14 20:25

LOL!! Please don`t share the stream of you chopping your balls of!! After the first day I think that is a big possibility that or SK or IM won`t make to playoffs...

2016-10-27 15:23

Bookmarked

2016-10-15 00:44

EZ NiP, number 1 team since 2013

dsa

ez4c9

C9 will win

they will'nt

cry9 inc

cry9

2016-10-14 23:05

2016-10-15 19:19

nice

Nice

RIP NRG

19trh

Ez cloud1

Too bad we won't see Na'Vi and VP

lul group A not even a single tier 1 team

hltv early as fuck ez for fnatic

should be top 8 eu and top 4 NA

If that were true then there would be no Liquid (although there would also be no NRG). I wish we could just add the next 4 EU teams to this, then the tournament would be super sick. Especially if you replaced NRG with Echo Fox, a team that at least has a bit of upset potential.

2016-10-14 19:14

C9, nip, sk and dig better than all in group A. ehehehehehehhhhhhh why

5 replies

there's this thing called seeding and you're incorrect

2016-10-14 18:52

seedings are irrelevant still bad groups. And yeah nip sk and dig are all better than all in group A

first you said "C9, NiP, SK & Dig" but I guess we'll see ;>

2016-10-14 18:55

this type of seeding is very bad same as system for majors

2016-10-14 19:18

I agree with SK and NIP, however I do think that Immortals and Liquid are more or less on par with C9 and Dignitas. I will be interesting to see who gets screwed in group A though since one of those teams is going to miss out on the playoffs.

2016-10-14 19:15

no vp no g2 no navi haha this lan is JOKE

Your life is a joke

fnatic sk final see ya later

EZ NRG

EPL Finals*

group A easier than group B

yay

no vp, navi or godsent LUL

Only 2 Quarter finals??

1st SK 2nd NiP 3rd Liquid 4th Immortals

I agree with you!

2016-10-14 22:39

imo I think c9 will go deep in this tournament along with imm

2016-10-14 23:37

possible

2016-10-15 00:39

TBH I like the groups

Yeah, if I could make 1 change I would swap NIP and EnVyUs. Other than that it looks fine to me.

2016-10-14 19:17

C9-nip final

no navi no party

Welp, gonna miss the last maps of the Bo5 if it goes all the way Group A: every single team can end 3rd Group B: SK and NiP should go through and 3rd place might be close

lul Group B>>A Fnatic = Cloud 9 Immortals =< NIP Mouz < SK Optic =< FaZe Enny >= NRG Liquid =< Dignitas

After seeing what Optic did in ESL NY, I don't think Faze is necessarily better than Optic. I'm not ready to put Optic on the level of Liquid or C9 yet, however I think they definitely could end up being better than Faze so I think that one might be up in the air.

2016-10-14 19:26

dignitas is not better then liquid lol

2016-10-14 20:14

group a: | group b: im | sk fnatic | nip nV | c9 EDIT: nevermind only 3 go to playoffs

2016-10-14 18:59

quarter 2 matches semi 2 matches wtf

"Teams who place first advance directly to semi-finals, while second and third placed teams will fight it out in the quarter-finals"

2016-10-14 18:56

lmao another katowice version

Yeah this is basically Katowice again (which admittedly was an awesome tournament). Even the teams are largely the same. Fnatic, NIP, SK, Immortals, Faze, EnVyUs, and Mousesports are all returning (most with similar rosters). We have a shit tier team that doesn't belong (NRG, last time it was Mongolz), we have a slightly less shit tier team that also prolly doesn't belong (Optic, last time EFrag), and we have the best Danish team at the moment (Dignitas, last time Astralis). The only real difference is we have 2 very good NA teams (lawl) instead of 2 elite eastern EU teams (Liquid and C9 instead of NaVi and VP).

2016-10-14 19:09

ty my spanish frend. i like dis format

2016-10-14 19:13

SK vs onliners

YESSSSSSSSSS nV in the "ez" group

nvm on a second look, A isn't easier than B at all lel

A: fnatic, immortals, mousesports/Liquid B: SK, NiP, dignitas

Group A is dogshit considering the teams in the league

EZ 4 CLOUD9

another tournament given to sk

Group A: 1. fnatic 2. immortals 3. EnvyUs Group B: 1. SK 2. NiP 3. FaZe/c9/dignitas depends on form!

EnVyUs last in group A imo they can't even beat an American team on LAN

nah they should win against liqshit and jokesports

Group B 2. Dig

2016-10-14 19:04

Faze is definitely not getting out of that hell group, C9 and Dignitas are too good. Maybe on a good day they could beat one of them, but not both. Also I personally have Liquid getting out of group A, however I think practically any combination of 3 teams could make it out of that group.

2016-10-14 19:21

6 replies

dignitas too good? lol...

2016-10-14 20:15

They were very competitve against G2 and Virtus Pro in Starladder (16-13, 16-12) and Bucharest (16-4, 14-16, 16-13) respectively. I'm not saying Dignitas is a world beater, but they are certainly miles ahead of Faze...

2016-10-14 20:30

I think they will get fully crushed in this tournament, i still dont think they are even close to teams like C9 or Faze

hmm I guess we will have to disagree lawl, I personally see them as a team that has been getting better and better and I think has a very good shot of making the finals if they can avoid SK. I will admit however that they are still very much unproven and in a group as hard as theirs it could easily go the complete opposite way (however I think losing to Faze is a bit of a stretch considering Faze lost BO3s to Flipsid3 and Dignitas in their past 2 LAN events). We will just have to wait and see which is why I think this tournament is going to be incredibly interesting because you have many teams like Dignitas, C9, Immortals, Liquid, Fnatic, and EnVyUs all trying to prove that they are the best of the rest. Hell, even Optic could be considered to an extent after their surprising run in New York.

2016-10-14 20:44

FaZe has won almost every nonlan game against Dignitas. Actually won 4 straight games against them. Sure its different on lan and i cant see faze making out of this group. Its really unfair. As they topped the list on standings.

2016-10-15 13:19

These are BO1s, so it is certainly very possible that Faze could put an upset over Dignitas (or even C9, NIP and SK for that matter). Personally I see group B being a fight between SK, NIP, C9, and Dig with Faze acting as a sort of upset team that could screw over a team like C9 or Dig but will have almost no chance of actually winning enough to make the playoffs.

2016-10-15 15:13

2 of 3 top team are missing, what an event

Not ESL's fault that NaVi got 2-0d by Faze or VP 1-1'd Flipsid3, Hellraisers, and Penta.

2016-10-14 19:22

Nah, the system doesnt work. VP attended so many events last month, that they can not focus properly on Online games. It should be some qualifying based on ranks like in Tennis. Not enough points you have to play whole qualification, you are in top4 ok, you have your invitation right here. See ya on the event.

2016-10-14 19:38

I think that is a problem with leagues in general (especially ones where the regular season is 100% online). Honestly I don't see how they could change it up without just removing the whole regular season thing all together. I do kind of like the idea of a money rankings for teams (which is what golf for a long time used to determine the top players of the year) to determine who gets invites and the seeding in tournaments. It is almost certainly the fairest way to do it since there isn't any sort of collective body that can determine whether the most recent Starladder was a more or less important tournament than ESL New York (so you couldn't really give out points for each tournament (like they do now in golf)), personal rankings are very prone to corruption and statistical rankings can also lead to certain biases in categories and teams getting ranked higher or lower than they should be (like Godsent being top 3 when they aquired the Fnatic roster or Fnatic being outside of the top 30 due to having a somewhat different roster). Money is going to probably be the best way to do it since it would be incredibly hard to corrupt without it being completely obvious (like I guess a team like Godsent could theoretically pay the Starladder or Dreamhack guys $1 million to make a $900,000 winner take all tournament with a bunch of tier 5 teams and Godsent, but it would be so easy to see that something fishy was going on once the tournament was announced) as companies aren't going to not have any incentive to be giving a lot of money out for a tiny tier 3 tournament (since they don't care about the rankings and would likely be losing money by doing this) and tier 1 teams would all want to be going for the biggest paying tournaments as to increase their rank so it would be almost impossible for a tier 3 team to do well in a tournament with a big prize without beating a ton of very good teams. Also tier 1 teams would like not want to waste their time with tier 2/3 tournaments due to the low prize pool however tier 2 and 3 teams would likely need as much as they could get to try and get into bigger tournaments so they would all want to get into tier 2/3 tournaments so there would likely be a lot of good competition in smaller tournaments like those.

2016-10-14 20:04

yes, exactly. Organizers/managers have to start restructuring competitive cs with ranking and other shit around. Its like you are not invitated to champions league, because you didnt play qualification, but you won competition of your country.

2016-10-14 20:13

No retard. The teams decide what event take attend on. No one is forcing VP. The money-hungry organization is to blame. Along with the players. Its their fault.

2016-10-15 15:29

yeah-yeah dumbass, now shut up and clean my shoes.

2016-10-15 15:58

Ez dignitas lets go CAJUNB

Group A pure shit against Group B

group B is way harder

Goodbye Clown9

Mous vs c9 final :]

Maybe if Mouse had Oskar still and SK and NIP weren't in it lawl.

2016-10-14 19:23

Fnatic ftw, clutch maiser is going to reck everyone

so many shit tier NA team lul

1# SK 2# EnVyUs 3# and 4# Nip Fnatic

#1 mouz

2016-10-14 19:28

Only i think it will be a boring tournament? Ez4SK without navi, g2, vp.

ez for vp, navii for sure

2016-10-14 19:05

not even a single tier 1 team in group A lul #ESLPROLEAGUE

2016-10-14 19:07

Calm down, it wasn't funny the first time...

ikr?

2016-10-14 19:19

Liquid and Immortals are tier 1.

2016-10-14 19:24

lul Liquid almost a t1 Immortals are close to t1 but not quite yet both strong t2 teams

2016-10-14 19:25

I guess it depends on your definition of tier 1, personally I would consider tier 1 to be any team that can win a tournament (so SK, NaVi, VP, NIP, G2 (when on form)) or win a tournament that doesn't contain the top teams (personally I would have Dignitas, Liquid, Immortals, C9, Fnatic, and Astralis as those teams)

2016-10-14 19:34

Only 1 of the top 3 teams...

2016-10-14 19:08

Only VP and NAVIs own fault if they lack professionalism

go BR

This event also has a preliminary card: Three and a half American teams fighting the Brazilian political system to acquire visas. If VP/Na'Vi replaced the American teams, it's likely that the event gets better. FeelsBadMan

Apparently the visas situations is looking very good atm for NA

NRG>FaZe

NRG gonna win the whole thing

They can go out groups :D

2016-10-14 19:32

I really wish it was Echo Fox or TSM there instead of NRG :/ cause those teams (while they still would prolly have no chance of getting out of groups) could easily pull off an upset in a BO1 and shake things up between the 4 teams that will actually be fighting for the playoff spots.

2016-10-14 19:37

I'm taking a screenshot of this just in case they somehow pull it off lul

2016-10-14 23:38

Group B 4 top 7 teams Group A 1 top 6 team LUL

WTF no NA'VI and no VP?! First big event here and only 1 team on top 3. =[

?? they didn't qualify...

2016-10-14 19:27

I know. But for a brazilian who had no money to travel to NA or EU it's the only way to see those teams. I'm just sad because I really love VP, specially Neo, Pasza and Taz and I don't know if there's an other opportunity to see them. Sorry my englando.

2016-10-14 19:51

wow group A so fucking easy -.- I hate esl so much

It is based on seeding from the regular season. The 1st, 3rd, and 5th place teams from NA are put with the 2nd, 4th and 6th place teams from EU and vice versa.

I want mouz vs nrg

why no vp? they are the best team, they should kick NRG (Top 20 team max) and add vp they deserved it more

They were tied with Dignitas at the end of the regular season so they faced them in a BO3 to see who got in and Dignitas won.

2016-10-14 19:39

kappa they didn't qualify...they had their chance but they fucked it

They had fucking 50 chances from the 20 chances they were given to get back in to the BO3 play in game against Dignitas.

2016-10-14 19:40

they fucked up losing to dig

2016-10-15 22:39

looks like T2 event tbh

It is.

2016-10-14 19:41

better than seeing sk and navi play every week

2016-10-14 19:42

times in CET or local time?

Ez G2 oh wait....

2016-10-14 19:48

Nothing new here, VP and Navi sucking in long online events. Group A: Fnatic, Immortals and nV Group B: SK, Clown 9 and NiP

Somebody could me explain this round-robin system, is like esl new york format?

2016-10-14 19:53

Yes.

2016-10-14 20:00

DIGNITAS

fnatic liquid sk dig there we go

2016-10-14 20:02

"Ginásio" mean Gymnasium already, it's Ibirapuera Gymnasium, not a stadium at all. Just a tip :)

2016-10-14 20:03

immortals mouz envy sk faze nip

2016-10-14 20:10

imo fnatic nv imm sk nip c9

2016-10-14 23:40

c9 will not have an easy path tho I can't see dig out

2016-10-15 00:40

Stich are u coming to Brazil?

Group A looks very interesting

2016-10-14 20:26

tier2

2016-10-14 20:35

ez 4 FalleN

2016-10-14 20:36

Inb4 mouz wins all the shit and thooorin gets burned

2016-10-14 20:41

lol group a

2016-10-14 21:45

1 - Dignitas 2 - SK 3 - Envyus

2016-10-14 22:14

Finally decent teams, sad no navi and VP ... But atleast no flipshit hellshit who go to events only for vacation

2016-10-14 22:54

SK vs IMT - Grand Final

2016-10-14 23:00

Purposefully having the brazilian teams in different groups. This is setup. Every single unfair advantage they can get they take it. Brazilians are so sketchy. Cant wait to see the aimlocks. It will already be installed in the hardware for when they get there haha

2016-10-14 23:07

EZ 4 FNATIC

2016-10-14 23:08

GA: Fnatic, Mouz, Immortals GB: FaZe, NiP, dignitas

2016-10-14 23:15

My predictions are Group A: Fnatic,Little SK, Mouz and group B: NIP/SK/C9 I think C9 are better/can beat easly Faze/NRG/Dig and might win a bo1 against sk/nip.

2016-10-14 23:39

Wait, shouldn't NRG be in group B instead of Optic? They got the higher seed by 4 rounds

2016-10-14 23:49

It's so freaking weird to not see any of these on the team list: Na'Vi Virtus.pro Astralis G2

2016-10-15 00:09

ez for SK in theory

2016-10-15 01:41

Yeah, in fact SK are massive favorites to win this, if they don't it will be an epic fail.

2016-10-15 01:50

rip clown9

2016-10-15 00:17

Ez Immortals No G2, Na'Vi, VP and Astralis... FeelsBadMan

2016-10-15 03:00

Mixwell VS Lowel GL

2016-10-15 12:59

Had Faze won the last game would they be in GROUP A? Because on the last match day they got tied 1-1 with F3. Groups are so unfair. Rip faze. Cant win against sk, nip, cloud.. wtf..

2016-10-15 13:04

I think the groups are this way because they split 3 NA teams each side.

2016-10-15 17:08

Unfair!? All these teams played 20+ matches to decide the lan finals groups and now it's unfair? To hell with that. FaZe better step up, they can't keep being knocked out in every group stage they play. If they fail once again, I honestly think we will see changes. The last time they delivered was on Cluj-Napoca (one year ago).

2016-10-15 17:34

its fucking unfair. b group theres top10 teams in a section top20 like wtf. faze should be in group a instead of mouse. in b broup there is 3 potential winners in group a. none. UNFAIR AF

2016-10-15 17:41

IMO nV Will surprise, but Who knows

2016-10-15 13:31

SK or Liquid will win this .

2016-10-15 14:48

VP, NAVI, G2 ASTALIS RIP

2016-10-15 15:22

The dream: SK vs Immortals playing ESL Pro League finals, in Brazil. 2016 has been the Brazilian year on CS, so, the dream is alive.

2016-10-15 17:30

EZ for ENVY =D

2016-10-15 18:39

clown 9

2016-10-15 19:21

Group A is a shit storm. No telling who's coming out of that group though I can definitely say NV will. Group B should be C9, SK and either Dignitas or NiP.

2016-10-15 22:36