FunPlus Phoenix finalize ESL Pro League S13 team list; group draw announced

1/3/2021 - 16:08

The European mixture is confirmed as the 24th team competing in the upcoming tournament.

ESL has announced that FunPlus Phoenix will be competing in Pro League Season 13, scheduled for March 8 - April 11. Jesse "⁠zehN⁠" Linjala's team was handed the last spot in the tournament, which was left vacant as the organizer was unable to bring an Asian representative to Europe.

With the final invite handed out, the team list now features 19 of the top 20 teams in the world, with Spirit being the highest-ranked squad to miss out. Additionally, the organizer has drawn the participants into four six-team groups.

zehN and co. will compete in Pro League

Currently ranked 19th in the world, FunPlus Phoenix started the year with a second-place finish at DreamHack Open January 2021 and won Snow Sweet Snow 1, where they defeated IEM Katowice 2021 champions Gambit in the grand final. FunPlus Phoenix is one of Flashpoint's partner teams, but just like Cloud9 and MIBR, were handed an invite to ESL Pro League based on their ESL World Ranking.

The group stage will take place in March using a round-robin BO3 format from where three teams will advance to the playoffs, with the following schedule:

Group A: March 8-12
Group B: March 13-18
Group C: March 19-24
Group D: March 25-29

The 24 competing teams are split into the following four groups:

Group A

FunPlus Phoenix
Group C

Group B

ENCE
Group D

Without Chrisj tho, best of luck in the future godJ!

2021-03-01 16:09

48 replies

no Spirit

13 replies

NAVI LUCKY GROUP AS ALWAYS

8 replies

They are in a group with Gambit (who just won Katowice) and Furia who is always annoying to play against. Your delusional

2021-03-01 16:13

6 replies

??? c9 team one and mibr in the same group, its basically free playoffs

2021-03-01 16:22

4 replies

2021-03-01 16:38

2021-03-01 20:46

2021-03-02 04:29

2021-03-02 13:09

3 places are missing ... you just named who is strong on paper and should go on. I also think that the light group) Group B and D are more serious in terms of competition)

2021-03-01 16:35

navi vs br

2021-03-01 16:33

top3 cis teams are there navi/gambit/vp

2021-03-01 16:26

3 replies

vp is on D

2021-03-01 16:53

2 replies

I was reply to the "no team spirit" on this tournament comment.

2021-03-01 16:59

1 reply

ah sorry I thought you were talking about group C

2021-03-01 17:00

fpx with sunny > chrisj

2021-03-01 16:18

-8/8

2021-03-01 16:25

flair and flag.

yeah what about it? it doesnt check out. "fpx with sunny > chrisj" hltv.org/matches/2326894/mousesports-vs-.. sunny > liquid too

2021-03-01 16:27

WTF is that group D though

25 replies

Group of Death

2021-03-01 16:12

every other group is more stacked. group d only 3 good teams when other groups got 4

2021-03-01 16:16

23 replies

name

21 replies

u must be kinda stupid. A. BIG, Complexity, OG and FPX (4 good teams) B. Vitality, G2, NIP and Mouse (4 good teams) C. NaVi, Furia, Gambit (only 3 good teams) D. Astralis, Liquid and VP (only 3 good teams)

19 replies

Group A is by far the weakest group

2021-03-01 16:31

Group c is way weaker

2021-03-02 01:34

A. OG, FPX? Good teams? but fnatic & EG are not as good as them? ROFL B. NiP & mouz are dogshit and G2 has been laughable too. C. So you said group D has only 3 good teams and others 4 but here u name only 3 teams, LUL D. fnatic & EG could upset ANY other teams in the other groups on a good day. D has potentially 3 top 5 teams (after the ranking update) or atleast 3 top 6 teams. and 2 good teams with huge upset-potential.

12 replies

Group D - Group of Death :)

2021-03-01 16:44

FNC done nothing in last 3 months, they show worse and worse cs after every tournaments they play. EG Ethan leaving and theyve been shit for while too now. Actually yes im pretty sure OG and FPX are much better teams rn than EG and FNC NIP dogshit? last games they beated teams like BIG, Astralis and VP doesnt sound like very dogshit. Mouz getting better with dexter they showed it in katowice. G2 still decent team and better than FNC EG D group doesnt have any upset potential. Astralis, VP and liquid gonna go through easily not even dropping maps to FNC or EG. I dont even talk about endpoint they suck. IMO group D is the only group without any upset potential.

2021-03-01 16:46

9 replies

hltv.org/matches/2346230/fnatic-vs-heroi.. hltv.org/matches/2346214/fnatic-vs-og-cs..

2021-03-01 16:50

Yeah cs_summit were good FNC, but it was only honeymoon cs. Now in Katowice they looked horrible.

2021-03-01 16:55

They played 1 bo1 and 1 bo3, can’t really tell yet tbh

2021-03-01 16:58

OG just changed a player too and has been equally down. Complexity is up and down but should be better and fpx is unproven. You cannot ignore that and just talk down about Fnc and EG to prove your point.

2021-03-04 12:41

Similar story with Gp B, G2 is struggling, NiP had a honeymoon and Mouz is stil a ways off while Dexter becomes acquainted with Euro CS. Group A only has upset potential because most of the teams in it have been shaky so there is no legitimate top 3. Where as Group D has three solid teams and two that can upset any of them, on there day, its truly a group of death.

2021-03-04 12:46

i wouldnt say EG or FNC solid.

2021-03-04 13:07

True. I will say, "Group of Death", in a World Cup perspective, is not about which group has the most upset potential. Its the Group with the most solid teams where good second tier teams are likely to face certain death by being in it. Group C is similar except the 2nd tier is so not solid but on a rethink Group C is the next most deathly for the 2nd tier.

2021-03-11 11:20

And given all the shakiness, lets just look at the rankings. Group D has 4 teams in the top 15. With the 5th being 16th. No other group has more than 3 teams in the top 15. The total level of each group from top to bottom is: D > B >> A >> C

2021-03-04 13:14

Well i were kinda right?

2021-03-30 01:10

2021-03-01 16:48

If you're going to include complexity, fpx, and og as good teams then you might as well include EG and fnatic making group D have 5 good teams EG and fnatic are both higher ranked than OG and fpx lmao

2021-03-04 12:54

But they dont play good cs... FPX is even one of my blackhorses to win that torunament,

2021-03-04 13:06

Group D has rank 1, 3, and 6 all in the same group, as well as 2 other teams that can beat anyone on a given day (EG and fnatic). Which other group has 3 top 6 teams in it?

2021-03-04 13:16

And Look how right i were

2021-03-30 01:08

And Look how right once again i were...

2021-03-30 01:07

Group D is easily the most stacked lmao

2021-03-04 12:50

oh i see now

2021-03-01 16:11

check hltv

No chrisJ no win

LET'S GOO sad to see chrisJ go tho :/

no chrisJ :(

very sad

lets go coL!

aye yo, lets go

lol spirit?

Spirit?

xDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

why not spirit

5 replies

probably because the invites were already determined before Katowice.

Ok, why endpoint then?

2021-03-01 16:14

They won ESEA MDL Season 35

2021-03-01 16:15

you're welcome!

2021-03-01 16:36

#gogambit

glhf

2021-03-01 16:10

Why not TS??? Screw.

#33

fun plus phoenix over team spirit ok esl:)))) btw group A completely joke

spirit just got robbed

Spirit modCheck Seriously trash like Team One and Renegades being here over Spirit is a disgrace to the game

invites done before katowice, chill your tits

2021-03-01 16:29

7 replies

As if Spirit wasn't a competitive team prior to Katowice and miles better then a fair chunk of these teams. Classic big org's getting all the chances without deserving them. This decision with FPX getting the invite over Spirit was made after Katowice though? You can't tell me this isn't the classic rich getting richer.

+1 agree

FPX is higher than Spirit in ESL rankings, chill.

2021-03-01 17:37

fpx 133 pts spirit 333 pts

2021-03-01 20:33

twitter.com/eslcs/status/136640317282736.. all talk no research please shut up next time

2021-03-01 17:49

+999

2021-03-01 17:05

LETS GO C9!

And of course fnatic in the hardest group, ty

At least they aren't playing with OG once again XD

Yes, finally it happened. But OG and BIG again in the same group kkkkk

+1 big og fnatic grp lost opportunity

2021-03-01 16:21

fnatic in the hardest group? LMAO

What is the hardest one then?

2021-03-01 16:17

B for sure

2021-03-01 17:01

I aren't think that. Vitality seems the only consistent team here. Nip and FaZe are unpredictable af. mouz new roster doesn't look promising. Ence joke since kicking aleksib. Meanwhile in group 2 one of the most consistent teams rn and Flukus.pro, which on the rise nowadays

2021-03-01 17:29

honestly if anything i feel bad for teams on C and D, A and B have lots of upset potential but C and D you might aswell cut off the lower part of the group and call it a day no way anyone else is going through

2021-03-02 07:44

In group C mibr can win over braindead furia, or gambot luck may end. In group D only miracle should happen to not let three upper teams go. Also EG>Colossus, Endpoint>TeamOne

2021-03-02 08:13

B>D>A>C

is group of onliners is better than C?

U look at C, u generally expect navi gambit and furia to go through

2021-03-01 16:47

2021-03-01 17:36

D>B>C>A

2021-03-01 16:52

why no Spirit? Answer is s1mple: FunPlusPhoenix offered more money.

Spirit??

why 3 brazilian teams in one group?

So at least 1 can make it to the playoffs.

xd +1

2021-03-01 16:39

imagine clown9 beating br

2021-03-01 20:49

group c lmao

rip G2

LOL NO SPIRIT T3 TEAMS ENCE , MIBR , c9,RENEGADES HAVE INVITE NICE TOURNAMENT

I agree

2021-03-04 12:47

Where the fuck is spirit They are higher in esl rankings than fpx now

+11111

2021-03-01 16:20

invites done before katowice

2021-03-01 16:30

now being the key word

The groups are kinda weird but I look forward to the games. Good Luck to all teams.

No NOT DESERVED!!!

Group D> Group B >Group A >Group C

good luck to mister ZywOo to carry this weight throughout whole group B

team spirit better than 75% of teams but they decide to invite 3 brazilians team (whos tier 3 at max) , endpoint, fpx ...

BR CS OMEGALUL Winstrike showed today what does Brazilian Counter-Strike mean. By the logic - they should have gotten invitation instead of team one

2021-03-01 16:19

invites done before katowice fpx was next best highest before katowice Team One won the qualifier and Endpoint won MDL S35

FPX is deserved however C9, Renegades, the brazilians etc shouldn't be there.

2021-03-04 12:48

Group A is a joke lul

group C is next level trash tier

Spirit robbed

Who cars no GODJ

fnatic is out of the groups already...

Believe, let’s just pray that they look more like summit fnatic than kato fnatic

2021-03-01 16:54

it's not about believing, something is not clicking, and they make way too much mistakes making them look like t4 team from time to time, map pool is a big 0 - ct sides are looking gross, and many more things to be said but i'll leave it just to the ones above...

2021-03-01 17:02

Why OG and ENCE again in different groups...

OG finally get one of the easier groups,lets go

Let's go FaZe!!! #FaZeUP

FPX NEVER LOST TO GAMBIT, EASY FOR THEM

2021-03-04 12:49

EZ4NAVI

2021-03-01 16:24

Group C lul Navi and gambit can eat those team by playing with joystick

No Spirit XDDDDDDDDDD

tffff this group lmao

Group c is weakest

u mean u can easily qual over navi, gambit, furia? look at A,B groups

2021-03-01 20:55

i think he means weakest in terms of competition, its easily the most clear cut group, u can easily tell whos going through with little to no chance of an upset

2021-03-02 07:51

cleanest, boring, expected u can call it any other way but not weakest its not me missunderstanding, its him being ret

2021-03-02 08:05

FPX over Spirit? Bad decision

pro > fluke

2021-03-01 16:37

Group D = Death

every group EU except for C (sovjet union is basicly asia)

2021-03-01 16:32

Spirit made it to the playoffs esl pro league season 12. And now they reached the semi-finals of Iem Katowice destroying the astralis. Again, they did not give an invite, it looks like in a year everyone will again be surprised why the top 20 will destroy the top 1.

And now it was a last free spot, and esl invite tier 3 team fpx J O K E

They did it before kato based on hltv rankings when fpx was higher

also before kato spirit won 3-0 vs fpx :)

2021-03-01 17:25

Ez group B

Group B and d 😃👍

EZ for Navi

endpoint getting shafted with their group again..

Endpoint was in the same group as Astralis G2 Heroic last time ROFL

2021-03-02 04:14

Hey, why is Spirit out??? FPX is way worse than Spirit

Group D is the hardest one, Group A is the easiest

2021-03-01 16:40

where are the top 7 in the world? Invite for Spirit !!!

Imagine adding FPP on ESL and not Team Spirit....

2021-03-01 16:41

WTF? Why no spirit

2021-03-01 16:43

Online or Lan Event?

2021-03-01 16:45

Imagine big on LAN lul

hehe :D

3 BR teams and 3 CIS teams looks legit af. They should reconsider their regional quotas for future events, even Nemiga is better than Team One or MIBR

mibr has looked okay

2021-03-01 16:56

Ouch group b and d are no joke.

Low shit like Team one, renegades, ence and others are in, but Spirit are not. NICE MENS))))))

2021-03-01 17:06

Where is team spirit? They play good like more than one year lol

2021-03-01 17:08

That's really good, FPX is a great team, and they absolutely deserve this spot. I think they will show up well on this event, GL to them.

2021-03-01 17:10

Group A is a joke

2021-03-01 17:21

ofc inv #17 lmao, instead of spirit lul

2021-03-01 17:32

-ENCE +Spirit please

2021-03-01 17:57

i feel bad for TeamOne....gonna get rekt

2021-03-01 17:58

wtf are these groups

2021-03-01 18:04

with whom did ENCE sleep with to get in there?

2021-03-01 18:20

Why all brazilian teams in 1 group?

2021-03-01 18:49

Group A is unpredictable. Either Col is in or out . Darkhorse is Renegades.

2021-03-01 19:55

Nice group Ez for BIG

2021-03-01 22:32

niiice

2021-03-01 23:18

Ez for Endpoint

2021-03-02 00:00

-renegades +Spirit and you have perfect event

All onliners in group A lol

2021-03-02 05:02

Easiest group for G2. RIP cheatality

2021-03-02 05:14

honestly its a shame, i wanted to see what asian teams are truly made out of

2021-03-02 14:57