Against all odds, Team Envy barely escape direct relegation in the last week of play, after remaining dead last for the entire season. Ghost Gaming come in second with a lot to prove in Denmark, after their surprisingly strong season, while eUnited barely miss out on the playoffs, even after tying INTZ in points.
The stars aligned for Envy on MD4. Ahead of SEMPHIS’ and his boys’ final two maps, only one scenario could save them: they had to win both maps against the Renegades, while simultaneously Luminosity weren’t allowed to collect three points in their encounter with eUnited. That’s exactly what happened, and after spending the entire season at the very bottom of the leaderboard, Envy now have a shot at staying in Pro League via the relegation tournament.
The boys surrounding jdm64 will still have to up their game however. With Nifty, Drone, reltuC, SEMPHIS and the aforementioned jdm64 under their banner, Envy had all the ingredients to contend for much more ahead of the season. Instead, their performances left us wondering what happened to those skilled individuals. If Envy can pull through relegation, which is far from a given with the level they have shown throughout the majority of Season 8, the team certainly has the potential to do real damage in Pro League. Time will tell if they can become a unit instead of just a mix of five good players.
Careful, Ghosts in Odense!
steel’s boys had a rough final week in Pro League with matches against Cloud9 and Liquid, winning only one map. They still head to Denmark as the second best team from NA, making us wonder if they can showcase even more. They’re not entering the tournament as favorites of course. From NA alone, MiBR, Liquid and NRG, should have greater chances than Ghost Gaming. Still, who wouldn’t want steel to gloriously re-emerge on the world stage of Counter-Strike? And who knows, he might have some tricks up his sleeve to catch the big names a little off guard.
eUnited’s encouraging debut
dapr, dazzle & Co. did all they could in their first season of Pro League, dismantling Luminosity on MD4 on both maps, but it just wasn’t enough. For a successful playoff qualification, INTZ had to lose their match-up with Rogue. But the Brazilians didn’t play ball, as they tied Rogue, to clinch the playoff berth. eUnited and INTZ both collected 32 points in the end, but due to the head-to-head advantage, kNg, felps & Co. are going to Denmark instead. eUnited have nothing to be ashamed of. Most EPL newcomers struggle initially and find it tough to adapt to the high level of play. Not eUnited though, they showed poise from the get-go and we can look forward to an even stronger ninth Season by the boys.
Get ready for the LAN finals in Odense on the 4th of December!
Tune in to ESL CS:GO’s Facebook channel to watch your favorite teams battle it out in Denmark. If you want to visit and watch Counter-Strike the way it’s supped to be watched - live with thousands of like-minded fans - you can purchase tickets here.
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Season 8 of the ESL Pro League is brought to you by Intel, the City of Odense, Nvidia, Legion by Lenovo, Logitech, paysafecard, xfinity, MDL and YouTube.
