It’s all about esports this weekend!

Calling all you CS:GO fans out there! Get ready to strap yourself in for a rollercoaster ride as ESL Pro League Season 17 reaches what promises to be a thrilling conclusion. 

We’ve already been treated to a world of excitement in both the qualifiers and the group stage, both of which have thrown up quite a few talking points, such as former GOATs Astralis being unceremoniously eliminated at the group stage at the hands of rivals Team Liquid, and it is safe to say there’ll be plenty more twists and turns in store over the next few days.

What’s more, with an $850,000 prize fund, which includes a whopping $200,000 grand prize, as well as qualification spots for IEM Cologne 2023 and Blast World Finals 2023 up for grabs, you can bet your bottom dollar that the big guns (pun very much intended) will be fighting tooth and nail to bring home the bacon in the InterContinental Malta.

Speaking of the big cheeses, when it comes to picking a favourite, it’s hard to ignore G2 Esports. The Germans have been an absolute tour de force as of late, powering their way to victory in the BLAST Premier: World Final 2022 and the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023. Although G2 slipped up in their second group stage match, as they slumped to a 2-0 loss at the hands of Cloud9 (which, incidentally, is their only loss this year at the time of writing), they bounced back in style with comfortable wins over MIBR and Fnatic to set up a round of 16 tie with Movistar Riders.

Whilst on paper, G2 shouldn’t have any problems in seeing off their opponents here, Movistar Riders won’t be in the mood to do their opponents any favours and will be looking to build on the winning momentum they established with their Lower Bracket wins over Saw and Big. Can they pull it out of the bag and cause a huge upset here? Only time will tell!

One team who will be champing at the bit to best G2 will be Heroic as they seek to avenge their 3-1 recent defeat, which they suffered at the hands of their rivals at the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023. The bitter taste of defeat on Polish soil appears to have galvanised the Scandinavians as they’ve really hit the ground running, picking up 3 wins out of 3 in Group B to set up a quarter-final date with destiny against either Outsiders, NAVI or 00 Nation. What’s more, they also know what it takes to win this event, having been crowned ESL Pro League champions back in 2021 and they will no doubt be eager to confine last year’s exceptionally disappointing showing at this competition to the dustbin of history.

It’s also worth noting that one of their potential quarter-final opponents, NAVI, could also very well be in with a shout of challenging for silverware at this tournament. Whilst the Ukrainians are going through a transitional period right now and aren’t quite the swashbuckling, dominant force which they were a couple of years ago, they’ve been looking solid as of late, bouncing back from a 2-1 loss to forZe in their Group D opener to pick up 3 wins on the trot.

What’s more, they’ll also be doubly keen to avenge their recent loss to Heroic in the IEM Katowice semi-finals. However, it remains to be seen whether they will get past 00 Nation and Outsiders to set up a grudge match with their Scandinavian foes. The question is: have they got what it takes to do so?

No discussion of tournament favourites would be complete without taking FaZe Clan into account, as they set the world of CS:GO alight for large parts of 2022, triumphing in no fewer than 4 majors. At the same time, things did seem to go off the boil for FaZe towards the backend of last year and a disappointing showing at this year’s IEM Katowice this year didn’t exactly do much to silence the doubters. 

That being said, FaZe could view this tournament as the ideal opportunity to prove that they are back once and for all, as they will be in no hurry to relinquish their grip on the ESL Pro League crown after storming their way to victory in this tournament last year.

Last but not least, we turn our attention to potential dark horses, Team Liquid, who incidentally knocked FaZe Clan out of IEM Katowice 2023. Despite a somewhat underwhelming showing in the Blast Premier: Spring Groups earlier this year, Team Liquid have been in good form in recent major tournaments, reaching the grand final of the Blast Premier: World Final and the semi-finals of IEM Katowice 2023. 

However, they’ve made an inconsistent start to life in this tournament with 2 wins and 2 defeats in their opening 4 games, so they’ll need to rediscover the form they’ve shown in their last 2 big tournaments if they are going to mount a challenge for silverware here.