Fantasy: ESL Pro League S15 Group D game goes live

With the last of the four groups just around the corner, you are now able to create your fantasy team.

As the group stage of ESL Pro League is drawing to a close, now is the final chance to take part in the games for the round robin phase. The Fantasy game for Group D has just been opened and you have until Wednesday, March 30 to finalise your rosters.

Group D is headlined by Natus Vincere, who will be looking to prove their standing as the best team in the world against two Danish teams, HEROIC and Astralis, the North Americans of Evil Geniuses and Complexity and the Polish wildcards of AGO, who qualified through ESEA Premier S38 EU with a considerably different roster in October of last year.

Fantasy users will expect a high return from s1mple, who is the most expensive player avaliable

So far, users have gravitated towards players from Natus Vincere. This means that the most picked player up to this point is Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov, even with a relatively high price of $226,000. His teammates Valeriy "⁠b1t⁠" Vakhovskiy and Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy are not far behind, with the latter leaving you with a bit more budget to spend on other players.

In terms of star players it is impossible to ignore Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev, who is highly popular even with his extortionate price of $264,000, as he usually delivers big points to those who pick him. Coupled with a few good budget picks alongside him, such as Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali, Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince and Vincent "⁠Brehze⁠" Cayonte, the points from the Natus Vincere AWPer could guarantee your team a high placing.

Some of the popular picks from other favoured teams such as HEROIC and Astralis include Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth, who usually does well with the Support role. Asger "⁠Farlig⁠" Jensen and Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller are also interesting options who could fill the Main AWP role in your team without a big financial outlay.

If you want to go against the grain and pick some of the less talked about options, some of the players to think about are the North American duo of Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta and Justin "⁠FaNg⁠" Coakley, who have a high potential if their teams find success. Maciej "⁠F1KU⁠" Miklas, who even though his AGO team is not expected to get many wins, usually performs near the top of the scoreboard, which is why he could also prove to be a difference maker against your rivals if they manage to upset some higher ranked teams.

An essential thing to note is the possibility of a player missing out on playing at the tournament due to a positive COVID-19 test and being replaced by a stand-in, so it is important to follow any roster announcements before the group starts and change your team accordingly.

The prizes for the HLTV x BitSkins League are as follows:

1. Flip Knife | Forest DDPAT (Field-Tested)
2. AWP | Containment Breach (Field-Tested)
3. USP-S | Overgrowth (Field-Tested)

Aside from the event prizes, Fantasy players compete for the $10,000 season reward, with the battle for the top spot being wide open:

1. Kermo 77 – 117 points
2. UnfriendlyV – 114 points
3. JirioTree - 113 points
4. mr_abdul - 112 points
5. SV1 - 112 points

Read more

Fantasy returns with $10,000 Spring season

Please take note of the Fantasy rules before competing as they provide important information regarding the prizes, eligibility, and selection of winners. Fantasy is free of charge and can be played in official HLTV leagues, as well as independently organized private and public ones.

Start playing Fantasy by going to the Fantasy page here.