Chaos in Kato - ESL Pro League S24 Preview

Thank God for that. Counter-Strike is back. We were starting to talk to inanimate objects like Tom Hanks in Castaway.

It might not be the most popular opinion, but we love the chaos of the Swiss system. Sixteen teams enter, eight come out, and there's a whole lot of narrative and chaos in the middle. We cannot wait.

The big five - or big six, if you want to include Legacy (without arT we're less bothered) - are all here, with Vitality, Spirit, Falcons, FURIA and MOUZ all vying for pole position when it comes to the Major, though Vitality are playing with jL over apEX, which would make us less enthused.

Especially as one of us just called them the best team in the world.

That leaves a relatively free path, you would think, for Spirit. They've been the de facto number one this season with other top teams stumbling and spluttering, and donk is just simply way too good to lose to a team who aren't playing at an elite level.

FURIA don't seem totally right, Falcons outside of Majors and the odd IEM seem to fall short and MOUZ seem allergic to winning trophies.

MOUZ, though, should be in a good spot here. Yes, their last event was disastrous, but they're more than capable of a deep run and before that event seemed set to seal a spot as a top three team in the world. This is a fantastic opportunity to get back on track before crunch time at the end of the year.

FURIA need a win badly, but it doesn't look like it's going to come any time soon. KSCERATO is once again putting up generational numbers on a team that is struggling to break top fours, and we're desperate to see him on a genuinely world class team again. We would like that team to be FURIA.

karrigan hasn't been able to get Falcons firing since the Major win, but they're always a threat to win any event. kyousuke/m0NESY/NiKo is historically good - there are few if any better trios on paper ever assembled - and with a Mt. Rushmore level leader behind them, this team really should be starting a dynasty.

After the top six, we're left with G2 and Aurora in a tier of their own. Aurora have shown some solid promise recently - the finals run in Porto being the obvious point of hope - and will be looking to double down on that and break into a top six that looks shaky. G2 on the other hand are the same team they've been for the last year; capable of brilliance, but equally capable of the ridiculous.

NAVI seem to be in free-fall, and will be looking at PARIVISION, BetBoom and 9z as their equals here, really. 9z have fallen off from their lofty perch, but they haven't fallen as hard as NAVI. PARIVISION and BetBoom are always difficult to play against, but never a real threat to the trophy - but NAVI will need to find some form to stop themselves being overtaken by one or all of them.

That leaves M80, TYLOO, 1win and ShindeN. M80 we all know and are entirely apathetic about; not a bad team who can take a series off a good team, but aren't going to shake the Earth. TYLOO are similar, but less likely to upset someone over a whole series. Watching JamYoung is always a pleasure, mind you.

1win have a very nostalgic looking Russian team; not in the sense that the players have all been around for ages, just that it's the sort of mish-mash collection of Russian-speakers that these types of orgs always used to make. It looks like a modern day Flipsid3. They might be rubbish, they might be amazing. Rubbish is more likely.

ShindeN are interesting in that they're completely green to this level of play, but have slowly risen through the VRS standings to the lofty heights of 72. It's nothing crazy, but it's better than you or I could do. They're probably not total cannon fodder, but we're not expecting them to go and beat Spirit in their opening game, either.