What were the highlights in groups A and B?
Group A had a rather disappointing opening, with Team HEROIC conceding a map to Team NIP over the use of Razer’s Snap Tap, overall losing 2-1. On the other hand, unsurprisingly, Team NAVI delivered a dominant performance to secure the #1 seed of the group, followed by Eternal Fire, the Turkish representatives. FaZe Clan secured the #3 seed by battling it out through the middle bracket, while the #4 seed went to Team HEROIC who redeemed themselves by reverse sweeping NIP and crushing Sangal Esports 2-0 in the end.
In Group B, Team Spirit sent out a message to all competitors as Danil "donk" Kryshkovets broke CS2 esport’s MR12 kill record in his opening game against Wildcard Gaming. Despite an explosive start, Team Spirit then lost to MIBR in their next game, the team which ended up bagging the #2 seed just below G2 Esports, the undisputed #1 seed. However, Team Spirit didn’t let up too much momentum and managed to qualify as the #3 seed through the middle bracket while TheMongolZ clasped the final seed after beating 3DMAX in the lower bracket final.
What are the predictions going into groups C and D?
While groups C and D will have their matches between September 10 and 15, many are issuing predictions about their outcomes.
In Group C, Team MOUZ is most poised to finish first due to a very compelling recent track record. On top of being the defending champions from ESL Pro League 20, they won BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 and placed 3-4th at both IEM Cologne and EWC. Team Astralis is expected to finish in second - despite their disappointing performance at IEM Cologne, they have managed to take maps off powerhouses like G2 Esports and Team Vitality, possessing great potential. It’s anyone’s game for the remaining two seeds, but popular opinion is siding with Complexity and FNATIC.
In Group D, it’s an easy prediction that Team Vitality will qualify first and foremost, given their track record of winning IEM Cologne 2024 and possessing ZywOo, arguably the best player in the world right now. The rest of the seeds are very unpredictable, with Team Liquid, Falcons, and FURIA being very neck-to-neck in performance.
