After the fantastic IEM Katowice, the next S-Tier CS:GO tournament to take place is ESL Pro League Season 13. Due to the pandemic of the coronavirus, this one, like many other eSports competitions, is held online.
The best 24 teams from Europe, Asia, Oceania, North and South America have the opportunity to show no mercy and earn an ESL Pro League title, ESL Pro Tour Points and divide a prize pool of $750,000.00.
Right here, we’ll entirely introduce you to the 13th Season of the ESL Pro League. First, we’ll check the general tournament overview, format, listings, and schedule. And then, down on this page, you’ll find an expert prediction on ESL Pro League favorites and expected group and tournament winners.
So let’s jump in!
ESL Pro League Season 13 overview and format
ESL Pro League Season started with the first group phase on the 8th of March. The total of 24 teams are divided into four groups, where six teams in each will fight for the spot in play-ins. The second and third spot from the group phase proceeds to the Round of 12. Also, the groups are taking a round-robin format, and matches are played in the best-of-three series.
The second, Play-In phase starts from the 8th of April, 2021. Once more, matches are played in the best-of-three format and single-elimination bracket. Winning teams from this phase continue to the Semifinals while losing teams will have a second chance in the Quarterfinals.
Playoffs follow the same single-elimination bracket and best-of-three format, except for the Grand Final match. The Grand Finals will be played in the best-of-five series instead.
ESL Pro League prize pool
The total prize pool is $750,000 that’s divided among the teams in the following manner:
- 1st place – $175,000
- 2nd place – $60,000
- 3rd and 4th place – $15,000
- 7th and 8th place – $12,500
- 9th to 12th place – $10,000
- 13th to 16th place – $7,000
- 17th to 20th place – $5,000
- 21st to 24th place – $3,000
Also, each team gets a $5,000 extra for every win during the group stage.
ESL Pro League – Pro Tour Points
- 1st – 1300 points
- 2nd – 1000 points
- 3rd – 4th – 775 points
- 5th – 6th – 575 points
- 7th – 8th – 400 points
- 9th – 12th – 250 points
- 13th – 16th – 100 points
- 17th – 20th – 50 points
- 21st – 24th – /
ESL Pro League – BLAST Premier Points
- 1st – 2800 points & Global Finals placement
- 2nd – 1400 points
- 3rd – 4th – 875 points
- 5th – 6th – 350 points
- 7th – 8th – 175 points
- 9th – 12th – /
- 13th – 16th – /
- 17th – 20th – /
- 21st – 24th – /
ESL Pro League Season 13 groups and schedule
Teams will have 5 to 6 days to finish the initial group phase. Some will take this part as a practice and a warm-up for the following stage, yet the others are expected to give their A-game in order to proceed further.
As ESL Pro League is a global competition, groups are diverse, and competition favorites are already known. However, due to the dynamic nature of CS:GO competitions, we know that the matches will bring up loads of unexpected frags, amazing plays and high-octane strategies.
Group A (8th – 12th of March):
- BIG
- Heroic
- OG
- Complexity Gaming
- FunPlus Phoenix
- Renegades
Group B (13th – 18th of March):
- ENCE
- FaZe Clan
- G2 Esports
- Mousesports
- Ninjas In Pyjamas
- Team Vitality
Group C (19th – 24th of March):
- Cloud9
- FURIA Esports
- Gambit Esports
- MIBR
- Natus Vincere
- Team One
Group D (25th – 29th of March):
- Astralis
- Endpoint
- Evil Geniuses
- Fnatic
- Team Liquid
- Virtus.pro
ESL Pro League Season 13 Live watch
Here you can watch ESL Pro League Season 13 live, starting from the 8th of March, with Group A, all the way to the Grand Finals scheduled for the 4th of April.
Also, scroll down to find the localized variations in Russian, German, Portuguese Brazilian, Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Bosnian, Hungarian, Finnish and Polish language.
To watch live ESL Pro League Season 13 in your native languages, check out those links:
- English twitch.tv/esl_csgo
- Russian twitch.tv/csgomc_ru
- German twitch.tv/99damage
- Portuguese Brazilian twitch.tv/gaules
- Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Bosnian, English twitch.tv/relogmedia
- Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Bosnian, English youtube.com/relogmedia
- Hungarian twitch.tv/esport1tv
- Finnish twitch.tv/tes_csgo
- Polish twitch.tv/esl_csgo_pl
ESL Pro League Season 13 Predictions
This year’s group stage gave certain teams the opportunity to shine and easily proceed into the play-ins. Yet as expected, the situation isn’t equally good for all 24 competitors. Some groups, such as Group D, are packed with CS:GO legends.
So let’s break down the current standings and see which teams are likely to advance in the late stages of this spring’s ESL Pro.
Group A predictions
Compared to other groups, this one doesn’t have as many powerful teams that can easily push others into shadow. Yet, as this phase is ending at the moment of writing this post, we’re witnessing a somewhat expected scenario.
Currently, Heroic is on the solid first spot, with four wins and no losses and a total of 12 group points. The reason for success is definitely the roster refresh, with two outstanding new players – refresh and sjuush. They took spots of nico and b0RUP, and although many fans didn’t like those swaps, it seems like this might be a new winning combo.
On the second spot, we have Complexity Gaming with three wins and one lost game. They took a winning streak in the past few months, backed up by solid leadership demonstrated by blameF.
Also, not only Heroic is the one who went through a crew change. OG decided to put a pause for Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt, and we’re still left to see if this was a good choice for the upcoming 2021 season.
FunPlus Phoenix didn’t have the opportunity to see the word-class spotlight yet, however, this might easily change. They defeated the powerful Gambit during the Snow Sweet Snow #1. And let’s not forget that the same Gambit is the one who took gold in a clash with Virtus.pro during the recent IEM Katowice.
And for the end, Renegades is still struggling to break into the international scene. Besides their domination in Oceania, their play isn’t still polished enough to stand side by side with the almighty European and American CS:GO teams.
BIG’s end or a new beginning?
BIG had a hard time during the last few months, as they dropped from the top five – the position they have been holding since last summer.
The beginning of 2021 was turbulent as well. We’ve seen some great performances at BLAST Premier. However, they took the early bird exit ticket from IEM Katowice, which was everything but expected.
This German team follows a similar scenario during the ESL Pro, and right now, their score is 1-3. It might be due to the pressure, as the roster is about to go through announced and soonly expected changes.
Group B predictions
The second one, group B, is for sure more balanced than the previously mentioned one. The expected favorites here are, without a doubt Team Vitality.
This French eSports organization had a hard time during the IEM Katowice – somewhat the same as Group A’s BIG. So from the previously seen poor performance, we’re sure that Vitality is going to show their A-game during the ELS Pro group phase. Right now, they are having apEX once more in their roster, after being on a temporary break.
However, next to the Team Vitality, we’re having a legendary G2 Esports in group B. They’ve recently solved the majority of their problems by replacing kennyS, their main AWPer. JaCkz is taking the spot instead, plus on the AWP/Rifle role, they’ll have the Bosnian Serb, NiKo.
Right after those two teams, we expect similarly good performance from Ninjas in Pyjamas and FaZe Clan. None of those two managed to pass the first phase in the recent IEM Katowice, as they are in a similar, unstable performance era.
Two teams that are expected to leave the competition during this phase are mousesports and ENCE. Mousesports currently has hard times, as karrigan and ChrisJ, two of their significant roster members, left the team.
Speaking of ENCE, in order to win, they will need to show the play they never demonstrated before, as they’ve been struggling even with B-grade teams.
Group C predictions
The most balanced and extremely tight games will happen between the 19th and 24th of March, or during the Group C group phase.
Fans are undoubtedly excited to see the clash between the favorites – Natus Vincere and IEM Katowice winners Gambit Esports. Although Gambit doesn’t have years-long success in CS:GO, such as Na’Vi, they are currently on their peak performance.
However, after the IEM, the absolute favorites, together with the powerful carry player s1imple, are now aware of Gambit’s winning tactics. They should clearly not allow the same scenario to happen once more.
On the other hand, we’re having Gambit, a relatively young team whose AWPer sh1ro took the deserved MVP spot during the Katowice. Right now, all they have to do is to keep in the same shape and luck from the previous competition (which is somewhat tricky), and the success will come naturally.
The biggest disappointment by far comes from the American eSports titans – Cloud9. They need to work hard in bonding their roster together if their goal is to finish in the top three spots in any major tournament in 2021. Their newcomer Xeppaa demonstrated some decent skills and mechanics during the IEM, yet as a whole, they weren’t impressive at all.
Group C’s Brazilian takeover
Group C features three Brazilian teams, where FURIA is the strongest standing at the moment. Unfortunately, teams worldwide are aware of their offensive rush strategy and are already coming up with a decent counter.
MIBR and Team One, the other two Brazilian rosters, aren’t anywhere close to group C’s favourites. Quite recently, in Katowice, they showed no skills that could get them out of the group stage on this far more competent competition.
Group D predictions
The best for last – group D features some of the best performing teams in the entire world right now. So in this final group stage, we’ll either see the best matches and 100% polished mechanical skills, or we’ll witness a bunch of boring, defensive plays.
The mighty trio of Group D – Astralis, Virtus.pro and Team Liquid
Astralis is struggling to take over the 1st spot in the world while being aggressively pushed by Virtus.pro and Team Liquid. The current season definitely didn’t start as bright for the legendary Danes, as they ended in the second spot during the Global Finals of BLAST Premier. Not to mention their loss versus far more underpowered Team Spirit. However, as the lights shine from the past, they are still expected to have a few more tricks down the sleeves.
Virtus.pro showed their top form in the past few months, with major wins stacking one after another. Despite the mediocre performance in Katowice’s finals, they are expected to take over Group D, at least in the initial phase.
America’s Team Liquid is still getting used to their newcomer, FalleN, yet they perform like he’s in their roster for ages. It’s inevitable that this change will evolve in the future and might even take Liquid to the first spot, beating Virtus.pro and Astralis. However, they seem to be in a similar situation like BIG, struggling to enter the top 5 in the world.
Although powerful teams, Evil Geniuses and Fnatic don’t have a lot of chance to beat the top three in the group D, especially with the recently shown games. Fnatic is having an outstanding new player in their roster; however, Jackinho isn’t enough to assemble the entire team together.
ESL Pro League Season 13 Odds
Now, as we introduced you to the complete standings and predictions for ESL Pro League, it’s time to check the most valuable odds and make your bet.
As the matches are ongoing at the moment, our recommendation is to check the current standings and make your next logical bet together with our predictions.
