ESL Pro League Season 11 – The beginning of a new era!

It’s a new experience for Counter-Strike fans as a “franchise-style” league comes to the game for the first time. We’ve got all the information and an overview for you!

COVID-19 forces changes

One important change had to be made before the league even began: the location. The ESL originally planned to hold all league matches in their studios in Malta, but the coronavirus has thrown a spanner in the works of many eSports events. The Maltese government’s decision to close its borders due to the high risk of infection made a change of location necessary. Although this is, of course, disappointing for the fans, the ESL Pro League will still take place, albeit as an online league.

“Franchise-lite” system for more stability

A jolt went through the CS:GO scene at the end of February as the battle between the game producer, VALVE, and the top teams took a new turn. The top teams and tournament organisers have wanted to establish a franchise system for awhile in order to give the top teams more financial stability, while VALVE is strongly against a closed system and wants to keep tournaments freely accessible. Therefore, the system has been adapted and a modified franchise system developed. Europe’s two biggest tournament organisers, the ESL and FACEIT, tried to convince the teams to come to their respective leagues. We can clearly see who won this battle when we compare the list of teams in the two leagues.

The ESL did not just convince the HLTV world top 10 to join their league, but were also able to get fan favourites such as Ninjas in Pyjamas, Virtus.pro and OG on board. However, there’s room for optimism for FACEIT, as the ESL Pro League teams could take part in FACEIT’s “FLASHPOINT” tournament next season. The ESL have won the first battle, but the war is not yet decided.

Astralis or NaVi?

There is one question on everyone’s lips: can Astralis take top spot on the HLTV rankings back from NaVi? The Danes failed to convince at the BLAST event in London and then performed even worse at the IEM Katowice. However, coach ‘zonic’ and his team have proved enough times that they should never be written off.

NaVi, on the other hand, go into the league full of confidence. They have just won their first big tournament for almost a year and the trophy was certainly sweet for star player ‘s1mple’ and his teammates. On the back of that success, they have to be the favourites going into Season 11 of the Pro League. However, the tournament lasts almost a month and anything can happen in that time.

A hard-fought battle in the offing

Season 11 of the ESL Pro League is likely to be one of the most exciting events of the year. The level on show is so high that several of the outfits competing have a realistic shout of winning the title. The fact that sides such as Evil Geniuses, FaZe, Fnatic, G2, mousesports, Team Liquid, Team Vitality and 100 Thieves must all be included in the list of teams who could win the tournament shows just how little there is between the world’s best CS:GO teams.

bet-at-home wishes all fans an enjoyable and exciting ESL Pro League Season 11!