ESL Pro League S17 Group A, CCT West Europe playoffs fantasy games live

Both games will offer skin prizes, but only the ESL Pro League game will award points to the Spring season leaderboard.

The ESL Pro League Season 17 group stage kicks off on Wednesday and with it comes another HLTV Fantasy game, which will offer points to the $10,000 Spring season leaderboard.

Group A gets things up and running for the monthlong competition, with G2 being by far the heavy favourites to progress to the playoffs. The European combine are joined in the eight-team group by the likes of Outsiders and fnatic, while Cloud9, Evil Geniuses, Eternal Fire, IHC, and MIBR are also throwing their hat into the ring.

Important points to note are the LB & UB Final winners as well as the UB losers will get padding in the last two rounds (6th-7th place deciders; 4th place decider), whilst the Group A eighth-place decider winner gets no points for the LB Final & UB Final round.

jks is the most picked player of the EPL S17 game

Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage currently leads the charge as the most popular player. The Australian rifler comes into the ESL Pro League Season 17 group stage fresh off of G2's title-winning campaign at IEM Katowice, where he was in the running for MVP and made our Best five players of the event. His rather affordable $204,000 price tag has made him popular with those looking to splash the cash elsewhere.

Other common picks include the Cloud9 duo of Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov ($172,000) and Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov ($177,000), who will be looking to make amends after a disappointing debut at IEM Katowice for the new-look roster.

Unsurprisingly, the star duo of Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov will leave the biggest dents in players' wallets. The Bosnian rifler fetches an eye-watering $231,000, while his Russian teammate goes for a little bit more at $233,000. Alas, their world-class form and unrivalled individual skill mean the chances of a sub-par performance are particularly low, giving the potential for a great return on investment should the two players continue to step up in Malta.

The skins up for grabs for the HLTV x Roobet ESL Pro League Season 17 Group A Fantasy game are:

Specialist Gloves | Buckshot (Field-Tested)
M4A1-S | Golden Coil (Field-Tested)
AK-47 | Asiimov (Field-Tested)

XELLOW is the most expensive player of CCT West Europe at $221,000

The CCT West Europe Series 1 playoffs also has a Fantasy game playing out, but this will notably not offer points to the Spring season leaderboard and instead act as a standalone competition.

Those looking to participate should also bear in mind that the tournament employs a single-elimination format for the knockout stage. It's therefore advised to choose players who have the highest chance of making a deep run to maximise your team's potential.

Bad News Eagles are the roster with the most interest in this Fantasy game. Sener "⁠SENER1⁠" Mahmuti ($194,00), Dionis "⁠sinnopsyy⁠" Budeci ($204,000), and Rigon "⁠rigoN⁠" Gashi ($206,000) all sit within the top eight most-picked players. This popularity is potentially driven by the fact that the Kosovar outfit are currently one of the favourites for the online event and have been showing fine form by making it to the grand final of the ongoing CCT Central Europe Malta Finals.

Other common picks include Nils "⁠k1to⁠" Gruhne and stand-in Marcel "⁠hyped⁠" Köhn from BIG, a team also likely to make a deep run through the tournament. Players might also be tempted to choose from squads playing at a high enough level to have made it to the BLAST.tv Paris Major EU RMR — members of Falcons, Sprout, and GamerLegion are all available for selection.

Those who clinch a podium finish in the HLTV x Roobet CCT West Europe Series 1 playoffs Fantasy game will win the following prizes:

Driver Gloves | Racing Green (Field-Tested)
AK-47 | Neon Rider (Field-Tested)
AWP | Hyper Beast (Field-Tested)

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.