ESL Pro League playoffs round 1 highlights

fnatic 16-12 Monte

A 12-3 offensive half, which at times looked a bit like a B bombsite simulator, powers fnatic to an equalizer on Overpass. It was a strong team performance from the black-and-orange team, who had everyone pitch in with some key moments.

From down 6-14 Monte dug their heels off the back of an Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev quad-kill with a Tec-9, but ultimately didn't give themselves enough space with a woeful defense.

Astralis 6-9 Eternal Fire

Astralis early lead crumbled quite quickly on the first half of Inferno, with Eternal Fire pulling ahead by three rounds by the break.

The Turkish team shut down Victor "⁠Staehr⁠" Staehr in banana repeatedly and have Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker and Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş to thank for their lead, the former finding form in the early stages of the half while the latter net himself a handful of multi-kills in defense of B to close things out.

Can Eternal Fire close out the series on the T side, or can Astralis push up to an Overpass decider?

Astralis 3-2 Eternal Fire

In classic Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer fashion, he ended up behind some Eternal Fire members to kick off Inferno, but fumbled an easy opportunity to grab a kill. Astralis lost the round, but recovered with a force-buy in the next before blameF redeemed himself with a snappy triple kill to put his team in the lead.

Astralis 14 - 16 Eternal Fire

Eternal Fire secured their Vertigo pick by the skin of their teeth, 16-14, off the back of an incredible ace by Buğra "⁠Calyx⁠" Arkın.

The 25-year-old played a flank perfectly to get his team on match point, which was converted the following round to crystalize a six-round comeback in the dying embers of the map.

Monte 16-9 fnatic

The ending of Sergiy "⁠DemQQ⁠" Demchenko's map-winning clutch didn't quite go according to plan, but what does it matter, right? His perfectly timed move did the job.

fnatic had a brief resurgence late into the first half, but otherwise got outclassed on the opener. Overpass, their pick, is next.

Astralis 8 - 7 Eternal Fire

Eternal Fire's youngster, Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın, who was praised by Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker ahead of the ESL Pro League playoffs, led the charge for his team on the attacking side of Vertigo with 14 frags. In the end, however, it wasn't enough to keep EF in the lead.

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woxic: "I need to have freedom and make the game-changing calls"

Astralis brought their 0-5 deficit back with an incredibly important 2vs5 in the 13th round. Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer and Johannes "⁠b0RUP⁠" Borup got a full house which swung momentum and ultimately allowed their side to grab the slight lead at the switch.

Monte 7-2 fnatic

Szymon "⁠kRaSnaL⁠" Mrozek has been crucial to Monte's success early on their pick with six multikills in the seven round wins the team has picked up so far. The Ukrainian-majority squad are going for aggressive plays all over the map and the Pole's leading the way with great anchoring work.

The first map in the Astralis vs. Eternal Fire first-round series, Vertigo, is underway. The two teams traveled to the skyscraper at the Turkish team's behest, while the Danes chose Inferno as their hope map. Overpass will be the third in the series, if needed.

1. Eternal Fire removed Ancient
2. Astralis removed Mirage
3. Eternal Fire picked Vertigo
4. Astralis picked Inferno
5. Eternal Fire removed Nuke
6. Astralis removed Anubis
7. Overpass was left over

So far, Eternal Fire are off to a great 3-0 start on the attack. Astralis will now get a chance to inject themselves into the map in the first buy round.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
26/09/2023	Astralis 15:30 Eternal Fire	Match

Quite the contrast between the two teams. Monte have played 13 official maps in three different events since they advanced from Group B 16 days ago, while fnatic return from Group C after 10 days with just some unofficial practice behind them.

Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev: "There's always a risk of exhaustion. There's no perfect way to find good practice, so we decided that's the way we need to do to feel each other and to synchronize better."

William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman: "It feels good to be back pretty quickly, not have too much of a break and still try to ride the momentum we had from the group stage."

Ahead of Astralis' clash against Eternal Fire in the first round, Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer spoke to HLTV about his individual performance as the second-highest-rated player of the tournament so far (1.46).

"We didn’t play the best opponents yet, so that’s why the stats are higher right now," he said. The recently-minted in-game leader stressed he does feel like his individual level has decreased as a result of his new responsibilities, even if not much. "I’m not surprised that I haven’t taken a big hit, but I think I have taken a hit individually."

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blameF: "I’m very happy to continue my career in Astralis, I feel at home"

Four weeks have come and gone and it's time for ESL Pro League to head into the final week: the playoffs.

The top four from each group are layered through the single elimination bracket, beginning with the third-fourth-placed teams facing off in the first round today.

Round 1 matches

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 18
26/09/2023	fnatic 15:30 Monte	Match
26/09/2023	Astralis 15:30 Eternal Fire	Match
26/09/2023	MOUZ 19:00 FURIA	Match
26/09/2023	Virtus.pro 19:30 9z	Match

The bracket

Eight more teams await further in the bracket: Complexity, BIG, Movistar Riders, and FaZe earned a bye to the second round after placing second in their respective groups, and Vitality, Natus Vincere, ENCE, and G2 are already in the quarter-finals as the winning teams.

Pick'Ems remain open for another hour and a half or so before the matches start. Let us know your predictions!