Five Things We Learned From ESL Pro League Season 24

Five Things We Learned From ESL Pro League Season 24

ESL Pro League has barely had time to leave Katowice, and we’re already missing the Spodek.

We had a great week of Counter-Strike, with the ups and downs you only get in that UFO-shaped dome of greatness. And while it’s easy to get distracted by the flashy plays, every day is a school day. ESL Pro League was no exception.

So, here are the five things we learned from ESL Pro League Season 24:

#1: Vitality is the best team in the world

There’s no more debate; they’re the best.

Look, we’ve happily had conversations about Spirit’s potential, about MOUZ’s great season start, about how the stand-in stints would affect them, etc. But after all that, Vitality has returned to the form we saw during their era. In fact, we might still be in their era.

Just look at their run at this event.

In groups, they beat a NAVI that — while struggling — showed more promise in Poland than before, and they did it easily. Then they met Falcons and, while they dropped a map, they looked like the better team throughout; Dust II seemed like a stroll in the park for Vitality.

With performances like this, they’re gonna be the easy favorite coming into Singapore.

Perhaps the most poignant takeaway is how far away everyone seems. We constantly hear how talented the current scene is, but no one seems anywhere near Vitality’s level. Maybe this breadth of talent has ruined the depth at the front end, giving Vitality a sense of impunity, since no one else has a built-out roster to match their firepower.

In any case, we’re now sure it’s Vitality #1, a big gap, and then everyone else.

#2: This Spirit roster cannot stay unchanged

This was an all-around disappointing event for Spirit, who didn’t even stomp groups like they usually do.

Their 2-0 defeat to MOUZ could’ve been easily dismissed because, while donk played poorly, MOUZ is a good side, and 2-0 games aren’t always the most important for these teams. But the follow-up loss to 1win was a real concern. Spirit usually has no issues with teams of 1win’s stature, but they got beaten this time. 1win gave them a relatively simple 2:0 sweep, and while that can happen to anyone on any day, it was the second game where donk was a non-factor.

This was kind of the same thing that plagued Spirit in their playoff attempt.

That doesn’t include their game against the Falcons, though, because that was vintage Spirit. Exactly the sort of performances we want to see from them. But what it does absolutely include is the face-flop they had against MOUZ.

On their usual reliable pick of D2, Spirit was entirely outmatched. torzsi shut down swaths of map control with his big green, and most importantly, donk failed to show up again. Unexpectedly, zont1x was the only Spirit player to finish the first map with a positive rating. Though possibly that’s because his more “passive” — so to speak — playstyle means he gets more work when his team struggles, a bit like blameF.

You can see how night and day a good Spirit game is compared to this on maps two and three.

On Mirage, with their lives on the line, Spirit came out swinging. Both donk and zont1x were cooking, with no one on that side having a poor performance. They made MOUZ look pedestrian after a map where the same was done to them. But then map three came, and they failed miserably, with donk being the lowest-rated player on the Spirit side. It’s perplexing how hot and cold this team can be in the space of a few maps.

Whatever Spirit does after Singapore, it must include some serious change. As time goes on, it becomes increasingly apparent that this team needs a refresh.

Though it definitely won’t be m0NESY.

#3: Falcons have no shame

Their EPL performance was the usual Falcons nonsense; they just don’t quite play at the level we want to see. Who cares.

We’re more interested in the farcical contract announcement stunt they pulled off.

The Falcons decided that instead of the usual video or image announcement, maybe with a cheeky “tease” tweet, they’d rather play a “prank” on the CS community. So, they hit up KRL, a notable French leaker and streamer, and got him to report the following for them:

This was clearly meant to make it seem like he was potentially leaving for elsewhere. Instead, this was a bait-and-switch, with the Falcons announcing a contract with the AWPer through 2030.

This is honestly just a bit… forced? We get what they’re going for, and we don’t want to get in the way of fun, but hiring a leaker to force a leak about yourself just makes you seem desperate for attention at a time when your team has done absolutely nothing relevant since Cologne. They’re being loud in the wrong way, returning to the dislikeable Falcons traits that had them in so many people’s bad graces.

It’s not that deep — let’s be real with ourselves — but this is just another thing the Falcons have done that feels like a bid to be the center of attention.

Though again, maybe we’re cynical.

#4: G2 might be everything we feared

We miss SunPayus, don’t you?

For everything that was theoretically cool about this r1nkle move, and everything they are/were trying with their roles, this G2 team is feeling like a worst-case scenario right now. Their only win at this event came against ShindeN, a team most people reading this article, if they were being honest, wouldn’t have heard of before EPL.

That’d be one thing if G2 played well at all, or if they faced a lot of good teams, but they didn’t.

For one, they were genuinely awful throughout the group stage, putting up no fight against NAVI in their opener. Their game against 1win was no better, despite winning one map 13-1. They still got farmed by BELCHONOKK, a guy who got benched by PARIVISION. Speaking of which, G2 got knocked out by them in a game where HeavyGod performed uncharacteristically badly.

Though it’s hard to point the finger at him individually there, because this G2 team is clearly just a mess.

r1nkle isn’t at his level right now, NertZ and MATYS both struggle with inconsistency, and huNter- continues to show us he might be one of the most limiting IGLs in Tier 1 because of his playstyle choices.

We are mighty curious if this G2 roster can turn it around, because if they don’t, benching SunPayus will start to look really bleak. Even if that change was made for “out of the server” reasons.

Though they won’t care, G2 is guaranteed a Major spot, which, in a way, for a team that won’t win trophies, means the mission is done. Depressing.

#5: We love the Spodek

Can we please keep this place on the calendar?

We get it. It’s not exactly a picture-perfect location, and the financials probably aren’t great for ESL. Okay, yeah, also the air quality is quite awful, and the city is gray. And sure, it’s really hard to get to the airport for a lot of European travelers without taking layovers, so you have to go out of your way to attend.

But IEM Katowice is always mentioned alongside IEM Cologne for one reason: it’s iconic.

That disc-shaped place of CS worship has seen some of the most legendary moments our game has ever had, and the crowd always shows up with a reverence usually reserved for mass or lumberjack burger season. The energy, the love for the game, is palpable whenever CS is played in the Spodek, and we never want it to leave.

If that means it’s “relegated” to ESL Pro League, as opposed to IEM, so be it. But please never take this place away from us.

It’s ingrained in Counter-Strike’s identity, just as Cologne is; it’s unique, and it’s brilliant.