The 12th season of ESL Pro League CS:GO will start tomorrow in both Europe and North.
Despite ESL’s best wishes to play the Pro League on LAN, it’ll have to be played online due to the coronavirus pandemic. The tournament has been split into five regions: Europe, North America, Asia, Oceania, and South America.
Sixteen CS:GO teams will be playing in it from Europe, while the North American event will have eight squads. ESL Pro League season 12 will feature all of the top 10 teams in the world, including BIG, Vitality, Evil Geniuses, Natus Vincere, G2, Fnatic, Heroic, FURIA, Complexity, and Liquid.
Here’s everything you need to know about ESL Pro League season 12 Europe and North America.
Stream
ESL Pro League will be broadcast on ESL’s four Twitch channels since there will be two or four matches at the same time, depending on the day. If your favorite team isn’t playing on the main broadcast, you can follow them on the second channel, third channel, or fourth channel.
Format
ESL has split the European teams into two round-robin best-of-three groups of eight teams. All of the teams will play each other once and the top four squads from each group will advance to the playoffs. In North America, the teams will play a round-robin league stage and face each other once. The top two teams will proceed to the upper-bracket and the next two will start the playoffs in the lower bracket.
The playoffs will use a double-elimination best-of-three bracket for Europe and North America. Only the grand finals will be played as a best-of-five series and the team from the upper-bracket will start with one map advantage. ESL will distribute $450,000 of the prize pool for Europe and $225,000 for North America.
Teams
Europe – Group A
BIG
- tabseN
- XANTARES
- syrsoN
- k1to
- tiziaN
- Coach: tow b
G2
- nexa
- huNter-
- kennyS
- AmaNEk
- JaCkz
- Coach: maLek
Natus Vincere
- s1mple
- electronic
- flamie
- Boombl4
- Perfecto
- Coach: B1ad3
Heroic
- cadiaN
- niko
- stavn
- b0RUP
- TeSeS
- Coach: HUNDEN
OG
- valde
- Aleksib
- NBK-
- ISSAA
- mantuu
- Coach: ruggah
GODSENT
- zehN
- farlig
- maden
- STYKO
- kRYSTAL
- Coach: Devilwalk
ENCE
- allu
- sergej
- suNny
- Aerial
- Jamppi
- Coach: Twista
AGO
- Furlan
- GruBy
- mhL
- oskarish
- F1KU
- Coach: miNIr0x
Europe – Group B
Vitality
- ZywOo
- shox
- RpK
- apEX
- misutaaa
- Coach: XTQZZZ
Complexity
- blameF
- poizon
- k0nfig
- RUSH
- oBo
- Coach: keita
FaZe
- NiKo
- coldzera
- rain
- broky
- Kjaerbye
- Coach: YNk
Fnatic
- KRIMZ
- flusha
- JW
- Golden
- Brollan
- Coach: Samuelsson
Astralis
- device
- dupreeh
- Magisk
- Bubzkji
- es3tag
- gla1ve (on medical leave)
- Xyp9x (on medical leave)
- Coach: zonic
mousesports
- karrigan
- ropz
- chrisJ
- frozen
- Bymas
- Coach: Rejin
Ninjas in Pyjamas
- REZ
- twist
- Plopski
- nawwk
- hampus
- Coach: THREAT
Spirit
- somedieyoung
- chopper
- iDISBALANCE
- mir
- magixx
- Coach: Certus
North America
Evil Geniuses
- Brehze
- Ethan
- CeRq
- tarik
- stanislaw
- Coach: zews
Liquid
- EliGE
- NAF
- Twistzz
- Grim
- Stewie2K
- Coach: moses
FURIA
- arT
- KSCERATO
- yuurih
- HEN1
- VINI
- Coach: guerri
Gen.G
- autimatic
- BnTeT
- daps
- koosta
- s0m
- Coach: Elmapuddy
100 Thieves
- jks
- jkaem
- AZR
- Gratisfaction
- Liazz
- Coach: ImaPet
Chaos
- Xeppaa
- steel
- leaf
- vanity
- Jonji
- Coach: mCe
Cloud9
- motm
- floppy
- Sonic
- oSee
- JT
- Coach: T.c
Triumph
- Shakezullah
- junior
- moose
- penny
- Spongey
- Coach: tacitus
Schedule
Tuesday, Sept. 1
- 7am CT: Na`Vi vs. GODSENT
- 10:30am CT: G2 vs. OG
- 2pm CT: BIG vs. AGO
- 2pm CT: Liquid vs. Chaos
Wednesday, Sept. 2
- 7am CT: Heroic vs. ENCE
- 10:30am CT: Vitality vs. NiP
- 2pm CT: FaZe vs. mousesports
- 2pm CT: FURIA vs. Cloud9
Thursday, Sept. 3
- 7am CT: Fnatic vs. Spirit
- 10:30am CT: Complexity vs. Astralis
- 2pm CT: G2 vs. GODSENT
- 2pm CT: Gen.G vs. Triumph
Friday, Sept. 4
- 7am CT: Na`Vi vs. ENCE
- 10:30am CT: BIG vs. OG
- 2pm CT: Heroic vs. AGO
- 2pm CT: EG vs. 100 Thieves
Saturday, Sept. 5
- 7am CT: Fnatic vs. mousesports
- 10:30am CT: Complexity vs. NiP
- 2pm CT: Astralis vs. FaZe
- 2pm CT: EG vs. Cloud9
Sunday, Sept. 6
- 7am CT: Vitality vs. Spirit
- 10:30am CT: BIG vs. Na`Vi
- 2pm CT: OG vs. AGO
- 2pm CT: Liquid vs. 100 Thieves
Tuesday, Sept. 8
- 7am CT: ENCE vs. GODSENT
- 10:30am CT: G2 vs. Heroic
- 2pm CT: FaZe vs. Fnatic
- 2pm CT: Gen.G vs. Chaos
Wednesday, Sept. 9
- 7am CT: Complexity vs. Spirit
- 10:30am CT: NiP vs. mousesports
- 2pm CT: Vitality vs. Astralis
- 2pm CT: FURIA vs. Triumph
Thursday, Sept. 10
- 7am CT: Na`Vi vs. AGO
- 10:30am CT: BIG vs. Heroic
- 2pm CT: G2 vs. ENCE
- 2pm CT: 100 Thieves vs. Chaos
Friday, Sept. 11
- 7am CT: OG vs. GODSENT
- 10:30am CT: Complexity vs. Fnatic
- 2pm CT: Astralis vs. mousesports
Saturday, Sept. 12
- 7am CT: NiP vs. Spirit
- 10:30am CT: Vitality vs. FaZe
- 2pm CT: BIG vs. G2
- 2pm CT: EG vs. Gen.G
Sunday, Sept. 13
- 7am CT: Heroic vs. GODSENT
- 10:30am CT: Na`Vi vs. OG
- 2pm CT: ENCE vs. AGO
- 2pm CT: Liquid vs. FURIA
Tuesday, Sept. 15
- 7am CT: FaZe vs. Spirit
- 10:30am CT: Vitality vs. Fnatic
- 2pm CT: NiP vs. Astralis
Wednesday, Sept. 16
- 7am CT: Complexity vs. mousesports
- 10:30am CT: OG vs. ENCE
- 2pm CT: BIG vs. GODSENT
- 2pm CT: EG vs. FURIA
Thursday, Sept. 17
- 7am CT: G2 vs. AGO
- 10:30am CT: Heroic vs. Na`Vi
- 2pm CT: Vitality vs. Complexity
- 2pm CT: Gen.G vs. 100 Thieves
Friday, Sept. 18
- 7am CT: Spirit vs. mousesports
- 10:30am CT: NiP vs. FaZe
- 2pm CT: Astralis vs. Fnatic
- 2pm CT: Liquid vs. Cloud9
Saturday, Sept. 19
- 7am CT: G2 vs. Na`Vi
- 7am CT: Heroic vs. OG
- 7am CT: BIG vs. ENCE
- 7am CT: GODSENT vs. AGO
- 10:30am CT: Vitality vs. mousesports
- 10:30am CT: Complexity vs. FaZe
- 10:30am CT: NiP vs. Fnatic
- 10:30am CT: Astralis vs. Spirit
- 2pm, CT: FURIA vs. Gen.G
- 2pm CT: EG vs. Chaos
- 2pm CT: Cloud9 vs. 100 Thieves
- 2pm CT: Liquid vs. Triumph
Sunday, Sept. 20
- 12pm CT: FURIA vs. 100 Thieves
- 12pm CT: Liquid vs. Gen.G
- 3:30pm CT: Cloud9 vs. Chaos
- 3:30pm CT: EG vs. Triumph
Tuesday, Sept. 22
- 12pm CT: EG vs. Liquid
- 12pm CT: Cloud9 vs. Gen.G
- 12pm CT: FURIA vs. Chaos
- 12pm CT: 100 Thieves vs. Triumph
Key storylines
CS:GO has a new title contender on the block. Danish team Heroic had a miraculous run at ESL One Cologne Europe, beating FaZe, Fnatic, Complexity, G2, and Vitality to lift the trophy. The grand finals against Vitality were totally one-sided. Heroic beat the French team 3-0 to secure the championship. This was Heroic’s first tier-one title and just shows how much firepower this lineup has. Their T-sides were impeccable throughout the tournament thanks to the tactics brought up by cadiaN and the head coach HUNDEN, aligned with the firepower of stavn, niko, TeSeS, and b0RUP. It’s unclear if Heroic can continue to play like this once other teams start to study them more.
Vitality has grabbed three consecutive runners-up placings since June, which shows that ZywOo and crew are on the right path. The French squad is one of the most consistent teams in this online era of Counter-Strike, while almost every one of their rivals is struggling to achieve consistency. Will Vitality bounce back at ESL Pro League season 12 Europe to win their first championship in 2020?
BIG returned from the player break as the best CS:GO team in the world thanks to their success at DreamHack Masters Spring Europe in June and cs_summit six Europe in July. The Germans started August on the right foot, too, after they won DreamHack Open Summer Europe. But BIG were completely outplayed at ESL One Cologne Europe, a tournament that would’ve helped cement BIG’s first “era” in CS:GO. TabseN and crew lost the two series they played—one to NiP and the second to their fellow Germans in Sprout, who are still miles away from becoming a top team. How will BIG deal with the pressure at ESL Pro League season 12 Europe?
ESL One Cologne Europe marked Astralis’ first tournament with their two new players: es3tag and Bubzkji. The duo showed potential in the Astralis jersey, especially es3tag, who made an impeccable first impression. The 24-year-old averaged a 1.21 rating throughout the competition and tried his best to keep Astralis alive in the match in which they were eliminated by NiP. Magisk, the in-game leader during gla1ve’s absence, also did a great job leading the squad for the first time. Can Astralis win a tournament without gla1ve and Xyp9x or will they have to come back to help the Danes return to the top of the scene?
Moving on to North America, Evil Geniuses remain the best team of the season. They took off after the organization brought in zews as their head coach in April. EG won their third consecutive championship at ESL One Cologne North America. At the moment, EG are clearly the favorites to win ESL Pro League season 12 North America, which would help to solidify themselves as the best team on the continent.
Team Liquid, on the other hand, made it to the grand finals against EG at ESL One Cologne North America and almost won if it wasn’t for EG’s comeback in the last map of the series. EliGE played out of his mind in the grand finals but seemingly looked tilted alongside the rest of the team when EG started to win the final rounds. The psychological aspect of CS:GO is something that Liquid has had problems with in the past, but that was brushed off last year when Liquid dominated for months and won the Intel Grand Slam. Can moses, the new head coach for this season, help EliGE and crew improve on the psychological aspect of their game?
FURIA are seemingly the only team in North America capable of beating Liquid and EG at the moment. The Brazilians oscillated in ESL One Cologne North America and lost to Chaos and EG. But one of their players has been shining since the new season started. It isn’t VINI’s job to hard carry in the matches since he plays a more supportive role, but he had a few dominant performances in August. If VINI can keep this up, FURIA will have five players who can pop off at any moment, which will be more challenging for Liquid and EG to deal with.
