Just days after the full list of 24 teams was announced for ESL Pro League season 14, the groups for what could be the final CS:GO event of the Intel Grand Slam’s third season have been revealed.
The month-long event begins with four groups of six teams each competing in a round-robin format, one group at a time. The top three teams from each group move on to playoffs, with the top squad advancing directly to quarterfinals.
The four groups, and their corresponding dates, are:
- Group A (Aug. 16 to 20): Heroic, Astralis, Team Vitality, Team Spirit, ENCE, Bad News Bears
- Group B (Aug. 21 to 26): G2 Esports, Virtus Pro, Complexity, OG, Renegades, Sinners Esports
- Group C (Aug. 27 to 31): Natus Vincere, FaZe Clan, BIG, mousesports, Evil Geniuses, Fnatic
- Group D (Sept. 1 to 5): Gambit Esports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, FURIA Esports, Team Liquid, Entropiq, Team One
Several of the CS:GO teams competing in ESL Pro League season 14 are just less than a month removed from competing at IEM Cologne, with a mix of results affecting their momentum heading into their groups.
With their win at IEM Katowice fueled by an unreal s1mple performance by even his standards, Na’Vi can claim the Intel Grand Slam season three trophy and $1 million prize with a victory at the Pro League. While previous Grand Slams were claimed in less than half a year by Astralis and Liquid respectively, season three has lasted for over two years now due to a wider range of event winners as well as COVID cancelling several LANs in 2020.
Some teams have made some changes since the conclusion of IEM Katowice. Complexity made a coaching change, then swapped out NA veteran RUSH for former Astralis/Cloud9 rifler es3tag. Fnatic has moved both JW and Golden to the bench and the state of its starting roster is still questionable. Astralis added a new young AWPer in Lucky, reverting back to a six-man roster and adding the sniping element that’s been missing.
Several of the teams that made their name during CS:GO’s onlin era are looking to reassert their dominance with the Pro League taking place online. Gambit, Heroic, and BIG are all looking to have another strong online event, with Heroic especially attempting to defend their ESL Pro League title.
The first match of season 14 will take place on Aug. 16. We don’t know the time or what teams will be playing, but it will be two teams from Group A.
