ESL Pro League Season 19 Underway

Counter-Strike 2 seems to be a sport that never takes a day off, and there are also some huge events taking place throughout the year as well. That’s the case again this week as the ESL Pro League Season 19 is now underway. 

All of the action started at the beginning of the week, and teams were placed into two separate groups to start to figure things out. The results from the group stage will determine where teams fall on the bracket, and some teams have already made some big moves. 

Even though there have been just 12 games that have taken place up to this point, some of the top teams have already emerged. Things will really start to heat up once the playoffs begin, but there has been no shortage of storylines at this point. 

Astralis and FaZe Clan Continue Rivalry

There are some great rivalries throughout the world of CS2, but none bigger than the growing rivalry between Astralis and FaZe Clan. Those two teams always seem to battle it out in the biggest events, and they had an early matchup in the ESL Pro League as well. 

There were two recent matchups at the IEM Chengdu 2024 that were split between the rivals and that set up a rubber match in this one. This time around it was Team Astralis that came away with a big win, and that secured them in a spot in the playoffs. 

It was dev1ce that once again led the way for Team Astralis, and that is something that he has done well to begin his tenure with Astralis. There was a huge roster shakeup last year for Team Astralis and it appears that all of those moves are paying off in a big way. 

There will now be pressure on Team Astralis to make a run in the playoffs, and that’s something that is missing from this team. Winning one more game in the group stage would put them straight into the quarterfinals, and that would be a massive boost. 

FaZe Clan is going to have some work to do in order to become a contender in this event, but this team has proven that it can beat the odds before. 

Falcons Fail; Others Rise

Team Falcons used to be a consistent contender in the ESL Pro League, and they were also a team that could win on the international stage. That hasn’t been the case of late as this team just hasn’t been able to get their roster set up correctly.

ESL Pro League Season 19 presented another opportunity for Team Falcons, but it looks as if it’s going to be a quick exit for this team. After falling to TheMongolZ in three maps, this team is now facing a tough climb to get back into contention. 

Falcons are going to be big favorites over TYLOO in the next group stage matchup, but another loss is going to create some serious concern. 

G2ESports and Team Vitality are always in the mix when they sign up to compete in an event, and they are looking sharp so far in this one. Those teams still have some tough matchups coming on the schedule, but each team was sharp in the opener. 

Vitality had a clean sweep of the Sharks in their first game, and they can clinch a spot in the playoffs if they find a way to beat the BetBoomTeam. G2 ESports was able to get past TYLOO in the opening match, and they are going to continue to be a betting favorite until one team can prove that they can knock them off.