ESL Pro League Week 8 Recap

The eighth week of the ESL Pro League Season 3 has come to an end which means it is time to look at the matchups, the best performances, and the standings as the end of the regular season nears.

After DreamHack Masters Malmö, where Ninjas in Pyjamas triumphed to take home $100,000, ESL Pro League continued with 40 matches. As it stands, all the teams have two matches left which are going to be played in the last week and the top 4 squads from each group will qualify for the LAN finals.

The European division's first match saw MOUZ play against Envy. Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer's 38:29 score and 113 ADR on Inferno did not suffice as MOUZ got an overtime victory with a 22-19 final score. Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač led the way as usual and had an ace on the CT-side. Cache was easier for MOUZ as they won it 16-8.

Later in the week MOUZ played Virtus.pro who are dead last in the standings. The first map (Cache) was a slaughter as it ended with 16-5 score but Virtus.pro recovered on Train to take it 19-15 in overtime. The veterean Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas was 30:18 and had a 1.38 rating in his team's third victory of the season.


The veteran helped his team get another win 

fnatic, who are using Niclas "⁠PlesseN⁠" Plessen while Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer is recovering from his injury, faced Natus Vincere and they exchanged map victories. Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist was the star on Overpass as he had a 29:15 score, a 1.63 rating, and even a vintage 1v4 clutch to lead his team to a 16-11 win. Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev emerged on Cobblestone and his 28:18 KD and 1.36 rating paved the way for the 16-13 victory.

FaZe lost a 11-4 advantage on Dust2 against Astralis and lost the first map 12-16. Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz put up monstrous numbers, including a 114 ADR and a 1.36 rating. Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen took the stage on Inferno as helped his team win 16-9 with a 1.73 rating.

FaZe played six more matches this week, two of them being upsets against fnatic. Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup's 1.39 average rating in their series against the Swedes helped FaZe win 16-6 on Train and 16-10 on Inferno. They got two more wins against FlipSid3 and managed to get one victory off of Dignitas. FaZe ended the week with five wins and three losses.


Krimz has been struggling without his buddy 

Natus Vincere traded maps for the second time this week, hurting themselves in the top four race. flamie posted a 1.70 rating on Train and Natus Vincere secured the map but could not prevent a loss on Cobblestone (8-16).

Natus Vincere played their last two maps against G2. The CIS team won Train in overtime despite Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon's 37:24 score but G2 answered back with a 16-3 win on Overpass. Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom had a 29:9 score, a 145.7 ADR, and a 2.38 rating as he wrecked Natus Vincere.

Ninjas in Pyjamas guaranteed themselves the first place in their division after this week's results. Ninjas in Pyjamas only played two matches this week and beat Envy in both of them. Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund went absolutely mad and slaughtered the Frenchmen with a 56:23 score and a 1.88 rating in two maps.


EU division standings

Splyce kicked off the action in North America against NRG and they each got a map win. Splyce won Overpass 16-11 but lost Train 10-16. Justin "⁠just9n⁠" Ortiz had a 46:35 score and led his team in terms of ratings on both maps. Shahzeb "⁠ShahZaM⁠" Khan, on the other hand, was standing in but he was Splyce's best player with an average of 1.19 rating.

KKona played six matches this week and won a grand total of zero of them. The squad who are at the bottom of the North American division lost two maps each to CLG, Winterfox, and Liquid. They played 4v5 in their matches against Liquid and lost 1-16 on both maps.

Before this match-week, CLG had already been ruled out of top four as they couldn't attain enough points and they lost all four of their matches in the eighth week. They first played Splyce, losing Cobblestone 8-16 as Jason "⁠jasonR⁠" Ruchelski had a 111.6 ADR and a 1.36 rating. It was closer on Train but Splyce were able to close it out with a 16-13 score.


mixwell had a good start in NA 

CLG's second opponents were OpTic who are fighting for a spot in the top four. With the addition of Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas, OpTic ran through CLG as both maps finished with a 16-7 score. mixwell's 1.64 rating on the first map and William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba's 25:11 score and 1.61 rating on the second map were the factors that helped OpTic finish the week in the second place.

The major champions Luminosity put on a strong performance against the Aussies of Renegades. Train was no challenge for the Brazilians as they won it 16-3 and then cleaned up Inferno to win it 16-13, guaranteeing themselves a spot at the LAN finals.

Cloud9 was and still is another team that is fighting to qualify. Their victory on Cobblestone and Overpass against Splyce was a huge step for them. Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham averaged a 1.41 rating in this series. Cloud9 will play KKona in their last two matches and if they manage to secure those maps, they will be going to the LAN finals.

Liquid and Selfless traded maps to end the week and they are currently tied but Liquid is ahead thanks to their higher round difference. Although they are equal in points, Selfless's chances of qualifying are rather slim because they will be playing against Luminosity. Liquid, on the other hand, will face Splyce who have no chance to qualify.


NA division standings

Player of the Week: Sweden Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund

GeT_RiGhT played only two matches this week but his performance was awe-inspiring. The Swedish player was leading many categories as he averaged a 1.88 rating, had a 119.8 average damage per round, and got 1.24 kills per round.

Team of the Week: Sweden Ninjas in Pyjamas

With the lack of good performances in this match-week, Ninjas in Pyjamas earned the Team of the Week award as they also locked up the number one seed in the European division. Envy could not stop the Swedes in either of the matches they played and the Ninjas looked solid as they picked up two wins with 16-10 and 16-3 scores.

Farewells so far (i.e. Teams that have no chance to qualify for the LAN finals):

EU Division NA Division
Poland Virtus.pro Canada KKona
Germany MOUZ United States CLG
Denmark SK United States Winterfox
Ukraine FlipSid3 United States Complexity
Denmark Dignitas United States Splyce
Europe FaZe  
France Envy  

What to look forward to in the upcoming match-week:

April 26  World Natus Vincere  vs. Germany MOUZ
April 26 France G2  vs. Sweden Ninjas in Pyjamas
April 26 Denmark Astralis  vs. Sweden fnatic
April 27 United States Splyce  vs. United States Liquid
April 27 United States Selfless  vs. Brazil Luminosity
April 27 Canada OpTic vs. United States NRG
April 27 Australia Renegades vs. United States Complexity

You can find the demos or the VODs of all the matches that have been played so far and you can also go to our stats page to see who's been performing the best in the third season of the ESL Pro League.

Follow HLTV.org writer BenjaCS on twitter.

United States Shahzeb 'ShahZaM' Khan
Shahzeb 'ShahZaM' Khan
Age:
22
Team:
No team
Rating 1.0:
1.06
Maps played:
270
KPR:
0.73
DPR:
0.66
France Vincent 'Happy' Schopenhauer
Vincent 'Happy' Schopenhauer
Age:
24
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.10
Maps played:
766
KPR:
0.77
DPR:
0.65
France Richard 'shox' Papillon
Richard 'shox' Papillon
Age:
23
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.13
Maps played:
847
KPR:
0.78
DPR:
0.66
United States Tyler 'Skadoodle' Latham
Tyler 'Skadoodle' Latham
Age:
22
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.11
Maps played:
393
KPR:
0.72
DPR:
0.59
Sweden Niclas 'PlesseN' Plessen
Niclas 'PlesseN' Plessen
Age:
17
Team:
No team
Rating 1.0:
0.73
Maps played:
13
KPR:
0.53
DPR:
0.76
Canada Jason 'jasonR' Ruchelski
Jason 'jasonR' Ruchelski
Age:
21
Team:
Rating 1.0:
0.91
Maps played:
197
KPR:
0.65
DPR:
0.71
Bosnia and Herzegovina Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Age:
19
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.18
Maps played:
354
KPR:
0.83
DPR:
0.70
Belgium Adil 'ScreaM' Benrlitom
Adil 'ScreaM' Benrlitom
Age:
21
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.11
Maps played:
690
KPR:
0.75
DPR:
0.65
Denmark Philip 'aizy' Aistrup
Philip 'aizy' Aistrup
Age:
19
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.08
Maps played:
500
KPR:
0.75
DPR:
0.68
Poland Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas
Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas
Age:
29
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.02
Maps played:
965
KPR:
0.70
DPR:
0.67
Sweden Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund
Age:
25
Rating 1.0:
1.21
Maps played:
917
KPR:
0.81
DPR:
0.61
Denmark Nicolai 'device' Reedtz
Nicolai 'device' Reedtz
Age:
20
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.16
Maps played:
664
KPR:
0.79
DPR:
0.63
Russia Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev
Age:
19
Rating 1.0:
1.08
Maps played:
576
KPR:
0.75
DPR:
0.67
Denmark Finn 'karrigan' Andersen
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen
Age:
26
Team:
Rating 1.0:
0.98
Maps played:
718
KPR:
0.68
DPR:
0.69
United States Justin 'just9n' Ortiz
Justin 'just9n' Ortiz
Age:
23
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.01
Maps played:
188
KPR:
0.71
DPR:
0.70
Sweden Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist
Age:
22
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.10
Maps played:
833
KPR:
0.74
DPR:
0.63
Spain Oscar 'mixwell' Cañellas
Oscar 'mixwell' Cañellas
Age:
20
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.18
Maps played:
102
KPR:
0.81
DPR:
0.65
Sweden Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer
Age:
24
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.14
Maps played:
669
KPR:
0.78
DPR:
0.64
United States William 'RUSH' Wierzba
William 'RUSH' Wierzba
Age:
21
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.04
Maps played:
241
KPR:
0.74
DPR:
0.69
gg
2016-04-25 19:25
d
2016-04-25 19:25
1 reply
boşuna deniyorsun xd
2016-04-26 06:52
1
2016-04-25 19:25
l2
2016-04-25 19:25
twinkies
2016-04-25 19:26
g
2016-04-25 19:25
Nice!
2016-04-25 19:26
n1
2016-04-25 19:25
1
2016-04-25 19:25
net even close
2016-04-25 19:26
noice
2016-04-25 19:26
s
2016-04-25 19:25
lol
2016-04-25 19:25
15th lol.
2016-04-25 19:26
#16
 | 
Brazil rickz1996
1
2016-04-25 19:26
n1
2016-04-25 19:26
#18
 | 
Norway Mathisenb
Great, more mixwell for us :D
2016-04-25 19:26
#19
apEX | 
Brazil nove
ez m1xwell
2016-04-25 19:26
e
2016-04-25 19:26
3/17 XDDDDDDDDDDD
2016-04-25 19:26
1 reply
#58
 | 
Georgia aliosha
Esl system changes help them to avoid relegation
2016-04-25 23:55
fuck
2016-04-25 19:26
GTR
2016-04-25 19:26
Favela monkey to stronk
2016-04-25 19:29
ez kkona
2016-04-25 19:26
EZ VP
2016-04-25 19:28
#27
 | 
United Kingdom StatiKk56
How tf is G2 not above Na'vi? they have a greater round difference??
2016-04-25 19:28
2 replies
g2 prolly lost to navi
2016-04-25 19:40
1 reply
#51
 | 
Portugal dascouves
it was 1-1 ESL page has the correct stadings. HLTV does not update the rankings acording to round diference and all that stuff, if they have the same points, i guess they stay in the same spot they were, so NAVI were ahead of them before they get equal points, they will stay like that on HLTV page, but just go to ESL page and you will see the correct order standings.
2016-04-25 20:43
GODWELL gonna rape this kebab called "gob b"
2016-04-25 19:28
26 april and 27 april LAN?
2016-04-25 19:29
NiP is looking damn strong Never thought i would say these words again
2016-04-25 19:30
4 replies
NaVi and fnatic are the only ones who traded maps with them
2016-04-25 19:45
3 replies
I know, i just never though this lineup would be in the top 5 again. Not in this constellation
2016-04-25 19:46
2 replies
Me as well
2016-04-25 20:05
#46
 | 
France t3r4byt3
well they won DH Malmo :D (and finally beat their kryptonite team in the grand finals too) things are looking great for them so far this year
2016-04-25 20:14
1 LG 2 NaVi 3 Astralis
2016-04-25 19:35
G2 should be in 4th place in the standings over Na'vi. Both teams have the same number of points, but G2 has a better round differential.
2016-04-25 19:35
4 replies
G2 will lose to NiP, while NaVi will destroy mouz
2016-04-25 19:44
3 replies
rip NaVi,they playing cache
2016-04-25 19:57
2 replies
perhaps, but they may need to win only one map, as G2 will lose both
2016-04-25 20:06
1 reply
#45
 | 
France t3r4byt3
don't be so sure, NiP should win against G2 but VP was able to beat them solely because NiP didn't seem to be in form at all. I hope NiP picked themselves up again
2016-04-25 20:13
NIP :O
2016-04-25 19:45
#38
 | 
Spain Donra
go mixwell!
2016-04-25 19:47
Whats attack damage per round? Average damage per round maybe?
2016-04-25 19:49
1 reply
+1 must be a typo
2016-04-25 21:20
how many rounds left on the league
2016-04-25 19:54
According to ESL.com Na'Vi are 5th and not 4th.
2016-04-25 20:06
btw according to esl standings, g2 is 4th and navi 5th
2016-04-25 20:20
CLG?
2016-04-25 20:23
Winterfox has a 9-11 record. Fox Paws can't melt steel beams!
2016-04-25 20:29
#50
 | 
Sweden walllleeee
Liquid is on point right now
2016-04-25 20:38
#53
 | 
Australia sini_
So if NRG Liquid and Selfless lose their upcoming matches and RNG win their matches. They will be in 4th place? Wishful thinking :D
2016-04-25 21:52
1 reply
Yup
2016-04-26 00:11
So VP are out of this league or what?
2016-04-25 22:32
HLTV please list the matches and their results respectively for us who just skim the news to get the results. Thanks!
2016-04-25 22:46
"Kkona played six matches and won a grand total of zero of them" HAHAHAHAHA RIP.
2016-04-25 23:33
Sorry analysts, but no comments about LG match? I think u have time only to european matches. Good job! ty We smart, we loyal, we friendly, we are from BRAZIL!
2016-04-26 03:36
2 replies
Your retarded.
2016-04-26 04:41
1 reply
you too... because i don't ask u nothing... then... look at the answer... respect US...
2016-04-26 04:44
If you really believe the things you wrote in your previous comment your retarded. Simple as that.
2016-04-26 04:48
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