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The chase for the $1M prize in the Intel Grand Slam Season 5 continues with the ESL Pro League Season 18, which is well underway.
Last week, Group B played through the second of four triple-elimination brackets. ENCE, BIG, MOUZ, and Monte became the next four teams to secure their spot in the Playoffs Stage.
This week, the eight teams of Group C will compete with one another in the third triple-elimination bracket for one of the four spots in playoffs that are up for grabs.
The Counter-Strike action starts up again on Wednesday morning with two matches starting at 10 AM ET and two more following at 1:30 PM.
5Yclone vs. Natus Vincere
- When: Wednesday, September 13th – 10 AM ET
- Odds: 5Yclone (+750) vs. Natus Vincere (-1400)
One of the first matches will be between the permanent partner team Natus Vincere and ESL Challenger League Season 45: Asia-Pacific Champions 5Yclone. 5Yclone is a name that many CS:GO fans have probably never heard of.
The team consists of the Rare Atom roster that won the ESL Challengers League. 5Yclone’s tournament run started with a solid Group Stage showing, ending with a 4-2 record. In the Playoffs Stage, they took down Team NKT and The MongolZ before falling to Lynn Vision in the Upper Bracket Finals.
They’d take down New Happy in the Lower Bracket Finals to earn a rematch with Lynn Vision in the Grand Finals, where they’d win a hard-fought 3-2 match.
They had an impressive run through the Challenger League and hope to use their momentum to upset the #7 team in the world in Natus Vincere. Natus Vincere had a strong start to 2023, getting 3rd-4th in both IEM Katowice and Rio.
However, their latest outings at IEM Cologne and the Gamers8 tournaments have left much to be desired, possibly setting up the Chinese squad for a massive upset.
Apeks vs. M80
- When: Wednesday, September 13th – 10 AM ET
- Odds: Apeks (-315) vs. M80 (+230)
The other early match features the winner of the ESL Challenger League Season 45: Europe tournament, Apeks, taking on the ESL Challenger League Season 45: North America winner, M80. Apeks had a really strong run through the Upper Bracket in the European tournament, finding wins over ex-Partizan, K23, 9INE, and 1win.
In the Upper Bracket Final, they’d fall to Spirit in a 2-1 match, and they’d earn their rematch by winning the Lower Bracket Final 2-1 over Monte. In the Grand Finals, they battled it out with Spirit. And this time found victory, taking the match 3-2.
M80 played under ATK for the ESL Challenger League and had moderate success in Group B in the group stage of the tournament, going 4-3.
Though they qualified for the Upper Bracket in the Playoffs Stage, they were quickly sent to the Lower Bracket after paiN Gaming took them down in the opening round of the playoffs 2-0.
With their back against the wall, they made an incredible run through the Lower Bracket, taking down FLUFFY AIMERS, Nouns Esports, and finding revenge over paiN Gaming before finally falling to MIBR.
With the two organizations that placed above them already having partner spots for ESL Pro League Season 18, the M80 roster was given the spot and is ready to compete with some of the world’s best CS:GO teams.