In August we have started the sixth season of Pro League CS:GO and once again the best teams in Europe and North America have competed over several months to qualify for the finals of the prestigious US$1,000,000 ESL Pro League CS:GO. One play day left until the finals in Odense and we have various outcomes to look at, both for the playoffs spots and the relegation battle.

Tiebreaker rule

The below ranking priority will come into effect if two or more teams are on equal points at the end of the season. If at any point, the number of tied teams is reduced, or divided into several groups of tied teams, the still tied teams will in each case be compared again starting with the first point.

Points amassed between the tied teams ('Mini-League')

Better round score from matches between the tied teams ('Mini-League'). The round score is considered better if the difference between won rounds and lost rounds is larger. If that difference is equal, higher numbers are considered better (I.e. 20:15 > 22:18 > 20:16). Overtimes count as 16:15 wins for the purpose of rule 4.4.2., but this will not be represented in the website rankings.

Best-of-Three decider match between both teams

EUROPE

In the EU division Fnatic, North, Astralis and FaZe have all already qualified for the playoffs meaning there are two spots remaining to play for. NiP currently sit at 40 points at 5th place in the rankings. The two contenders that can still take their finals spot away are G2 and HellRaisers. At the bottom of the table there is a close race happening around the relegation area.



Ninjas in Pyjamas

NiP have to earn only one point in today’s match against EnVy to be a guaranteed a spot at the finals. Even if HellRaisers then get the full six points against Godsent, they lose the tiebreaker against the Swedish team. The Ninjas would also win a three-way tie against HellRaisers and G2, given they have won all four maps in those matchups. This also means that even if NiP don’t gain a single point in tonight’s matches, HellRaisers still need to get the full six points against Godsent and G2 have to earn at least two points against the extremely strong looking Fnatic lineup for NiP not to make it to the finals.

G2 Esports

The Season 5 Champions are once again struggling to qualify early for the playoffs. They have probably the toughest opponent possible for tonight’s matchup, as they go against the current number one in the rankings - Fnatic. G2 can secure their finals spot by earning three points tonight. On the other hand, they can still be caught by both HellRaisers and EnVy. EnVy sit at 33 points and would need to take the full six points against NiP to overrun G2 in the direct comparison and hope for HellRaisers to make no more than four points against Godsent.

HellRaisers

The CIS team have to hope for a small miracle today in order to qualify, as they are dependent on other teams’ results to make it to the finals. If they earn less than four points today, they can’t qualify at all. If they earn four points, G2 have to lose all points against Fnatic, as HR win the tiebreaker over the Frenchmen. If they gain five points, G2 must achieve no more than one point against Fnatic. And last but not least, if HellRaisers get the full six points tonight, they can qualify if either G2 make no more than 2 points or if NiP don’t win a single point.

EnVy

The chances for EnVy are extremely low, but still existing. They have to take the full six points over NiP tonight and hope for both G2 to not make a single point and HellRaisers to make no more than four points.

BIG

Looking at the bottom of the table, German MDL newcomers BIG currently sit last and have a very tough opponent ahead in North. They have to close a three points gap to Godsent and NaVi in order to not be auto relegated. If BIG earn six points tonight against North, they can even still avoid relegation completely, if at the same time Heroic get no more than one point, NaVi no more than two and Godsent no more than three points. In tiebreakers BIG win against Godsent and Heroic, but lose to NaVi and LDLC.

NaVi

Surprisingly, we find the CIS team round s1mple in a relegation spot just right before the last play day. FaZe Clan awaits them for tonight’s matchup which puts them in an even worse position. Natus Vincere can escape the relegation zone, if they win both maps in regulation tonight, as Heroic and LDLC play against each other and therefore will take each other’s points. They win tiebreakers against BIG, Godsent and LDLC and would only lose it to Heroic, which gives them a glimmer of hope to avoid relegation overall.

Godsent

The Swedish team that battled their way through MDL still have to fear an automatic demotion back to MDL, so do BIG. Their opponent tonight is HellRaisers who still fight for a playoffs spot and BIG will do everything to close the three points gap. However, the gap to Heroic and LDLC are only two and three points respectively, so they still have the chance to avoid relegation completely.

Heroic & LDLC

This final match can very well decide who goes to relegation. LDLC have to earn four points against Heroic to avoid relegation completely. Heroic on the other hand need five points to be guaranteed the same. If they split points tonight and both NaVi and Godsent win all six points, BIG would be directly relegated and Heroic as well as Godsent would go to relegation, as Godsent will lose the three-way tie against NaVi and LDLC.

NORTH AMERICA

In North America, we only have three locked in teams for the finals in Odense so far: SK Gaming, OpTic Gaming and Team Liquid. Five teams still play for the remaining three spots tonight. Ghost Gaming on the other hand is guaranteed to be demoted and Rogue will definitely play for relegation. However, the final relegation spot will be decided amongst no less than four teams. Let’s dive into it!

Misfits

The team lead by Sean Gares is in a very comfortable position tonight. They only need one point against Cloud9 to be guaranteed a spot in Denmark. If they don’t do that however, they have to fear being caught, as NRG, CLG and Luminosity are right behind them and Cloud9 would actually take their place with that six points win against them. For tie situations, Misfits win against CLG and Luminosity, they however lose to NRG and Cloud9 in case those two win the full set of points.

Counter Logic Gaming

CLG play Splyce tonight who still try to escape relegation. Three points in that match will guarantee CLG a spot in the playoffs. Despite a deficit against Misfits for tiebreakers they are in a good spot for ties against Cloud9, Luminosity and NRG. It all lies in their hands tonight to qualify!

NRG Esports

This final play week has proven extremely important for NRG. Next to three points against Misfits they were able to secure a dominant win over direct competitors Luminosity in the race for the finals. This puts them in a spot where they only need three points against Immortals tonight to be guarantee their ticket to Odense, even if Cloud9 and Luminosity both take home the full six points tonight as they win the tiebreaker against both.

Cloud9

Cloud9 play Misfits in their final match. If NRG don’t earn a point tonight, four points would be enough to secure their spot. If CLG don’t score tonight, Cloud9 can also reach the finals by taking five points from Misfits. If Cloud9 win with six points over Misfits tonight, they are also qualified. The direct win would help them in any sort of tiebreaker scenario to make it through. So it’s also very much in Cloud9’s hands tonight to qualify.

Luminosity Gaming

Luminosity have the seemingly easiest opponent tonight, as they play against Rogue who are already relegated. However, they can’t make the finals without relying on their competitors to stumble. In principle the same if-scenarios apply for them as they do for Cloud9. However, a full six points win won’t guarantee them a spot at the finals, as they would still need to rely on the other teams to not score, since Luminosity will lose any possible tiebreaker scenarios.

Splyce

Splyce are the only NA team coming from MDL that can still retain their spot in NA. In tonight’s match against CLG they just have to score one point more than their direct competitors Immortals to not be relegated, as they win the direct comparison over Immortals. Also two points more than compLexity Gaming will achieve the same. This however is very unlikely as compLexity play last placed Ghost Gaming tonight. Both Immortals and compLexity can secure their spot for Season 7 by winning the full six points tonight.

Make sure to follow the action tonight at youtube.com/ESLCS at 8pm CET for the European decider matches and 8pm EST for the North American decider matches!

Share this article: