North America's top CS:GO teams will clash in Season 8 of the ESL Pro League with the goal of crossing the Atlantic to de-throne Astralis in the Odense finals. Team Liquid seem to be the only ones in the region capable of daring to dream, but they'll need to quickly shake the ESL One New York blues off.

Team Liquid is currently traded as the number one team in NA; justifiably so. A strong showing at the Major, where they eventually ran into Astralis in the semi-finals, and a disappointing second place finish in New York, where they definitely should have won, make them the most successful team of the region. ELiGE, Twistzz and NAF form one of the most deadly and explosive trios in CS:GO and with the right mind-set they could be the frontrunners as Astralis’ challengers.

Tarik is the newest addition to MiBR, joining his former Cloud9 teammate Stewie2K alongside the three Brazilian legends FalleN, coldzera and fer. The NA/Brazil mix looked shaky in London and got absolutely destroyed by Astralis, but in Istanbul FalleN’s boys put up a fight versus the Danes. They just might begin to develop a new and powerful identity – something everybody would love to see.

And who would’ve thought that NRG and compLexity would be considered favorites in EPL just a few months back? coL surprised everyone with their stellar performances in London, making it to the Legends stage and securing their ticket to the upcoming Major at the Intel Extreme Masters in Katowice.

NRG failed to make the Major, but they consistently perform well both on- and offline, with CeRq and nathE putting up huge numbers time and time again.

Cloud9 has had to endure turmoil and it’s questionable, whether the addition of flusha solves any problems for them. Yes, it’s exciting, but is the Swede a huge improvement in his current form compared to Styko? We’ll have to wait and see.

Rogue looked like a promising team as well, but losing cadiaN hurts. The team played well-structured, sound CS under his reigns, and a new replacement hasn’t been announced yet. Finding an adequate substitute will be though as IGLs are sparse in the transfer market.

Renegades always challenge for a top six placing and this season should be no different. Jkaem has stepped up his game and helped make the Australian squad more dangerous.

We also have a lot of exciting players back in EPL. SEMPHIS and jdm64 with Team Envy. Felps and kNg are going to represent INTZ eSports. HEN1 and LUCAS1 are back with Luminosity. And, of course: steel, who will be rocking the Ghost Gaming colors.

Check out NA’S entire team list of ESL Pro League Season 8:

• Team Liquid

• MiBR

• compLexity

• NRG

• Cloud9

• Renegades

• Ghost Gaming

• Rogue

• Team Envy

• eUnited

• INTZ eSports

• Luminosity Gaming

Top matches of the week:

• compLexity vs. NRG

This match might tell us a little more as to which one of these two teams is ready to claim status as the third-best in NA. They are very similar in style and skill. Both with experienced IGLs and skilful young players. It’s a chance for both to assert dominance.

• Cloud9 vs. MiBR

A classic match-up that might have been a little more exciting at the beginning of the year. The NA/BR mix will be favored here, but maybe flusha can inspire his new team and show them the way to an upset.

Don’t miss ESL Pro League’s kick-off into Season 8!

Tune into the ESL Pro League Facebook channel to watch your favorite teams battle for a spot in the offline finals in Dallas. If you want to watch the season finals, you can purchase tickets here.

For all the latest updates on the ESL Pro League, be sure to follow ESL Counter-Strike on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

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.