After a big week of leaderboard changes from last week’s ESL Pro League action, there was no doubt that there would be similar performances as the sides from the respective regions, Europe and North America, continued to battle it out for a spot in the qualification zone. Again, like last week, there were a number of matches that, depending on the result, could drastically change the leaderboard, and multiple lineups hopes of qualifying for the LAN finals.

Unfortunately, due to an outage by one ESEA’s service providers, all of Tuesday’s matches were cancelled, and will be rescheduled for the near future.

In this week’s recap, you can find a roundup of the standings for the two regions, the greatest highlight from the play days, as well as a look back at the Hot Matches of the Week.

Europe

Standings

At the end of Week 4 of the ESL Pro League, mousesports still remain at the top of the European standings with a grand total of 24 points from 10 matches played, giving them an 8-2 win/loss record. When will this side be stopped?

With the absence of Nicolai “device” Reedtz, Astralis lost out key points when they came up against Virtus.pro in our Hot Match of the Week. This loss put them in a tight third place on 12 points with six other teams chasing their tails on the same amount of points. However, with the fortunate return of Reedtz, Astralis have returned to their usual standards, and now sit in second place with 21 points after 12 matches.

It’s worth mentioning that, at the bottom of the table, Ninjas in Pyjamas have moved into 13th place, taking over G2 Esports, after just edging out against Team Kinguin 16-12 on de_cbble, and 16-14 on de_train.

Below, you can find an updated look at the European ESL Pro League Season 5 standings at the end of week four.

Hot Match of the Week - Recap

In our weekly preview before the action got underway, we recommended that you tuned into the Danish head-to-head battle between major champions Astralis, and their fellow countrymen that are causing a storm in top-flight CS:GO, North.

The first map, de_overpass, which is commonly known as one of Astralis’ best maps, got off to an entertaining start with the sides going back and forth, leading us to the idea that we would have an exciting match on our hands, but we were far from correct. Once North had tied up the match 4-4, they went onto dominate the rest of the map, and Astralis were unable to win a single round from that point onwards, allowing North to take the first three points from the two-map series.

The second map, de_nuke, got off to a bit of a different start with Astralis taking a commanding 5-0 lead before North managed to acquire their first round win in the sixth round of the map. Astralis continued to win rounds as we got closer to the end of the half, but it was North that grabbed our attention as they were claw back their deficit to only three rounds.

Unfortunately for North, and despite everything they threw at the number one team in the world, it just wasn’t enough as Astralis made their way to the finishing, defeating North 16-11, and taking their first three points of the week.

Highlights of the Week

That was close

As North looked to tie up their match against Astralis on de_overpass, René ‘cajunb’ borg was put into a tricky situation after a moment of madness with a molotov in his 1v1 against Nicolai “device” Reedtz.

When things ALMOST go wrong but then you ace instead @cajunbCS #ESLProLeague pic.twitter.com/hc72Y63Ybm — ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) March 15, 2017

When it actually works…

During their domination of Fnatic, Natus Vincere’s Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács tries out something out of the ordinary, and oh boy, it actually worked.

North America

Standings

In the North American standings at the end of Week 4, SK Gaming have remained at the top of the leaderboard, holding off Team Liquid who sit in second with 27 points from 11 games, after defeating Selfless Gaming in both maps, 16-6 on de_cbble, and 16-9 on de_cache. The Brazilian leaders are sitting at 30 points from 10 games as their flawless streak continues. It’s difficult to say which team will break their record.

Looking at the bottom of the leaderboard, I think it’s time for us to say goodbye to Winterfox, Selfless Gaming, and compLexity Gaming, who all sit on three points after at least 10 maps played. Selfless are one of the only teams in the North American region to have played 12. All but one of the teams in the qualification zone, Immortals, sit on more than 20 points, and I think, with the top tier teams that are in that position, it will just be too difficult to get a good streak on the go to fight their way up.

Below, you can find an updated look at the North American ESL Pro League Season 5 standings at the end of week four.

Hot Match of the Week - Recap

In our North American preview of Week 4, it was our recommendation that you tune into the match between the ‘NA Kings of Pro League,’ Cloud9, and Misfits, a side that although hasn’t attended many top events this year, has been able to hold their own against some of the tougher competition in the ESL Pro League. They currently sit in fifth place with 21 points from 12 games.

Unfortunately for Cloud9, Tyler “skadoodle” Latham was rushed to hospital earlier in the week after passing out, with doctors noticing that Latham was suffering from internal bleeding. However, the match still went ahead as team coach, Soham “valens” Chowdhury, stood in for Skadoodle. In this sort of situation, it usually only means one thing. In the first map, de_cache, Misfits got off to a very quick start as they went on to lead the match 7-2. This sort of play continued as by the end of the half, the Misfits led C9 11-4.

However, in the second half, Cloud9 looked like a new side altogether as they tied up the match 11-11, before taking the lead. The two teams battled on, and the sides quickly found themselves in an overtime situation. Despite Cloud9’s best, and strongest efforts, they just fell short as in the last few rounds of overtime, Misfits returned to how they were previously playing and won 25-23.

The second map, de_mirage, started in a similar manner to that of the first map with the Misfits side dominating throughout. At the halfway mark, Misfits led Cloud9 12-3. There’s always a chance for a team to mount a comeback when the teams switch sides, but it wasn’t Cloud9’s time for that as Misfits closed out the game 16-4, taking another three points from C9.

Highlights of the Week

Too easy

As they trailed Selfless Gaming 6-4, SK Gaming wanted to ensure the game didn’t slowly get away from them, but Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo found himself in a 1v2 situation. Luckily for the Brazilian side, Toledo knew how to deal with this situation, and won them the round.

The momentum changes

Looking to switch the momentum to their side, Luminosity Gaming needed to win this round as they were currently losing 13-11 to compLexity. With the help of Bruno “shz” Martinelli, the Brazilian side were able to win the round, and most definitely changed the momentum as LG went onto win 16-14.

See you soon!

This week, there is again no break from the ESL Pro League action so we will return on Tuesday with our preview of what to expect from the ahead, and of course, more great CS:GO as we approach the halfway mark of the online qualification process.

As always, for all of the latest updates on the ESL Pro League, be sure to follow ESL Counter-Strike on Twitter and Facebook.

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