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FaZe Clan and Fnatic Starting their ESL Pro League Runs

Over the past couple of weeks, Group A and Group B have kicked started the ESL Pro League Season 18, with both having played their triple-elimination brackets in which Team Vitality, Movistar Riders, Astralis, FURIA Esports, ENCE, BIG, MOUZ, and Monte have become the first eight teams to stamp their ticket for the next stage of the tournament.

Group C will take the spotlight starting on Wednesday to determine the next four teams to qualify for the ESL Pro League Season 18 Playoffs. With plenty of Counter-Strike action left in the Group Stage, fans can expect plenty of exciting matchups and at least a couple of upsets.

FaZe Clan vs. 9z Team

  • When: Wednesday, September 13th – 1:30 PM ET
  • Odds: FaZe Clan (-1000) vs. 9z Team (+550)

There is sure to be great fanfare as the fan favorites FaZe Clan will take to the stage for the first time in the 18th Season of the ESL Pro League. They will be entering the match as massive favorites, and for a good reason, as they currently sit as the 9th-best CS:GO team in the ESL World Rankings.

They are no strangers to the ESL Pro League winning the 17th Season in March. Since then, it’s been a mixed bag of finishes, finding themselves in 9th-12th at IEMs Rio and Cologne while finding a Top 4 finish at IEM Dallas.

FaZe Clan will take on the 9z Team, who were the champions of the ESL Pro League Season 18: South American Qualifier. The South American Qualifier was a high-pressure tournament with no room for error as the tournament operates under a single elimination format, with the first two rounds being single map matches.

They were able to take down Age Sports 16-9 in their opening round, followed up with a close 16-11 win over Meta Gaming. In the best-of-three stage, they took down down BESTIA 2-1 and 00 Nation 2-0.

This is a team that’s used to playing with high stakes, and FaZe Clan can’t overlook them, as we’ve already seen plenty of major upsets at this tournament.

Fnatic vs. Imperial Esports

  • When: Wednesday, September 13th – 1:30 PM ET
  • Odds: Imperial Esports (+145) vs. Fnatic (-190)

Fnatic, another historied and fan-favorite team, will take on Imperial Esports in their opening match of the tournament. The team will be participating as a partner team at this one and will be seeking a decent finish, as the 2023 season has been pretty disappointing for Fnatic.

They finished in 9th-12th at IEMs Rio and Cologne while they did abysmally at IEM Dallas, coming in 13th-16th. Coming into this tournament, fans will be expecting a better finish from a squad that is currently 13th in the ESL World Rankings.

Imperial Esports enters the ESL Pro League Season 18 as the 21st-best team in the World according to the ESL World Rankings but also as the top team from South America. They earned their spot in the tournament by winning the ESL Brasil Premier League Season 14. Imperial Esports didn’t drop a single match during the Basil Premier League, going 2-0 in Groups, taking down TropiCaos and Paquetá.

They went on to take down RED Canids and ODDIK in the Playoffs to be Grand Champions. They hope to carry this momentum into the Pro League and upset one of Europe’s oldest Esports organizations.