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ESL Pro League Season 18 Group B Heating Up

The eight teams of the ESL Pro League Season 18’s Group B have been battling it out for the past two days, competing to be one of the four teams that will make it to the Playoffs Stage from the group.

With BIG and ENCE having already claimed two of the playoff spots, MIBR, MOUZ, Monte, Heroic, Rooster, and Evil Geniuses are feeling the heat to get one of the last two spots.

The Counter-Strike action is heating up in the ESL Pro League as each team looks to advance closer to the $1M prize up for grabs in the Intel Grand Slam. You can be a part of all of the action on Twitch and YouTube.

Rooster vs. Evil Geniuses

  • When: Saturday, September 9th – 6:30 AM ET
  • Odds: Rooster (+340) vs. Evil Geniuses (-550)

Rooster and Evil Geniuses will be the first game to kick off the next round of matches. One of these teams will also be the first team eliminated from the ESL Pro League Season 18 from Group B as their match marks the beginning of the Lower Bracket.

Rooster started their tournament out with an embarrassing 0-2 match against Heroic that saw Rooster only able to win six collectively across both games played. In the Middle Bracket, they showed more hope, looking competitive in all three games against Monte, even winning the first map. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to do enough, losing 1-2.

Evil Geniuses started their tournament with a 0-2 loss to ENCE. Though they weren’t able to win a map, they were at least competitive, a trend that followed them to the Middle Bracket.

In the Middle Bracket, they’d lose to MOUZ in another 0-2 match after looking competitive on both maps. Will they be able to find their first map win against Rooster, or will they go home without a game to their name?

MIBR vs. MOUZ

  • When: Saturday, September 9th – 10 AM ET

MIBR and MOUZ are competing in the Middle Bracket qualifying match, with the winner going to the Playoffs and the loser getting the winner of Rooster vs. Evil Geniuses in the Lower Bracket.

This is a rematch of their opening round match to start their tournament runs. MIBR found the 2-1 win on Wednesday in a pretty competitive match. What will happen on Saturday when they face off once again, but this time with higher stakes?

Monte vs. Heroic

  • When: Saturday, September 9th – 1:30 PM ET

Heroic started their tournament off with a dominant win over Rooster but has been slipping since. The currently 3rd ranked CS:GO team in the world fell to both BIG and MOUZ in 2-0 sweeps. They’ll need to have a dominant showing through the Lower Bracket to avoid any further embarrassment and disappointment for their fans.

Monte fell to BIG in the opening round of the tournament before finding a win of their own over Rooster. They then fell to MIBR, sending them to the Lower Bracket. Coming into the tournament, no one would pick Monte over Heroic, but after the past couple of days, anything is possible.

BIG vs. ENCE

  • When: Sunday, September 10th – 10 AM ET
  • Odds: BIG (+220) vs. ENCE (-300)

BIG and ENCE are sitting pretty after both were able to find two wins in the Upper Bracket. BIG took down Monte 2-1 in the opening round before dismantling Heroic 2-0. ENCE was able to find a 2-0 win over Evil Geniuses, followed by a 2-1 win over MIBR on the other side of the bracket.

The two teams will meet on Sunday to determine seeding going into playoffs, but overall, the pressure is relatively off, considering both teams have secured themselves spots in the next phase of the tournament.