ESL Pro League Season 8: NRG secure LAN as final day looms
The final day of the eight ESL Pro League season is upon us, and every team has so far played 20 matches, meaning every team has two more to conclude tonight. But first, the action from last night. After last night's matches, there is only one more spot remaining for North America in the upcoming ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals, set to take place in Odense, between December 4th - 9th.
Last night saw three double-header matches scheduled. The first saw Ghost and Cloud9 face-off, followed by Liquid and compLexity facing each other before NRG and Renegades were scheduled to finish the night. That NRG vs. Renegades match ended up not taking place, with the Australian team forfeiting the tie due to being located in Australia as they prepare for the upcoming Oceania regional qualifier for the Asia Minor. Those two forfeit wins for NRG confirmed their spot at the ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals.
However with the rules demanding that teams forfeit less than four matches in a season, they will have to play at least one of their matches against Envy, else risk disqualification from the season, as per rule 8.4 of the WESA Rulebook, under the section "No show". As per rule 8.5, this would mean they'd lose their prize money and finals spot.
Ghost and Cloud9's matches started off with the noticeable absence of Maikil "Golden" Selim in the server, due to the Swedish IGL suffering from an illness meaning Soham "valens" Chowdhury acted as a stand-in for them. This issue didn't seem to affect Cloud9 too much, although they did have to stave off a comeback on the first map of Train after going 14-1 ahead, for a 16-14 win. The second map was Inferno, and it was a closer affair with both halves being 8-7 leads for Cloud for another 16-14 win, taking the series 2-0.
In the other match that took place last night, compLexity vs. Liquid, the latter team also had a coach acting as a stand-in, with Wilton "zews" Prado deputizing for Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken due to the latter undergoing dental surgery. The opening map was Inferno, and after a close 8-7 first half it was compLexity who took a strong second half to take it 16-10. The second map was much more in favor of Liquid, with them taking the first eight rounds of Mirage without reply before moving on for a 12-3 lead at the break. Although compLexity had a strong start in the second half, they eventually faltered and the map fell into Liquid's grasp with a 16-10 score.
After last-night's matches, the current standings in EPL can be found below:
| Team | Matches | Wins | Losses | RD | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  MIBR |
20 | 17 | 3 | +107 | 49 |
| 2 |  Ghost |
20 | 15 | 5 | +71 | 43 |
| 3 |  Renegades |
20 | 12 | 8 | +46 | 38 |
| 4 |  NRG |
20 | 13 | 7 | +53 | 37 |
| 5 |  Liquid |
20 | 12 | 8 | +40 | 37 |
| 6 | INTZ |
20 | 9 | 11 | -5 | 29 |
| 7 | Cloud9 |
20 | 9 | 11 | -19 | 26 |
| 8 | eUnited |
20 | 8 | 11 | -32 | 26 |
| 9 | compLexity |
20 | 8 | 12 | -9 | 24 |
| 10 | Rogue |
20 | 6 | 14 | -57 | 20 |
| 11 | Luminosity |
20 | 6 | 14 | -80 | 17 |
| 12 | Envy |
20 | 4 | 16 | -115 | 14 |
As per the table above, there are currently four teams each with a shout at the final ESL Pro League Finals slot for North America. These are INTZ, Cloud9, eUnited and compLexity, and none of these teams play each other in their final matches.
All of the matches taking place tonight are:
| Matchup | Date | Time |
| NRG vs Cloud9 | November 14th | 7:00 PM EST |
| Liquid vs Ghost | November 14th | 7:00 PM EST |
| eUnited vs Luminosity | November 14th | 7:00 PM EST |
| compLexity vs MIBR | November 14th | 7:00 PM EST |
| Envy vs Renegades | November 14th | 7:00 PM EST |
| INTZ vs Rogue | November 14th | 7:00 PM EST |
For INTZ to qualify, they just need to equal or do better than eUnited and Cloud9 in their matches against Rogue to put the spot out of reach for everyone else. For Cloud9 to qualify they need INTZ to lose both of their games to Rogue, and for them to win at least one of theier two matches against NRG as well as doing better than whatever eUnited do in their matchups with Luminosity. eUnited have the same circumstances, just swap their names and Luminosity in for Cloud9 and NRG.
compLexity are in a much more difficult situation, with them needing to win both of their games against MIBR, and for everyone else in the playoff gauntlet to lose. If teams win matches in overtime, their chances of reaching the Finals are much harder.
Looking slightly further down the table, and we find the three relegation spots that are still yet to be confirmed. Effectively, the teams still in with a shot at having to face the relegation tournament are compLexity, Rogue, Luminosity and Envy, with two of those teams facing the second and third placing teams from the on going MDL playoffs. For the guaranteed relegation spot, that list reduces to just Rogue, Luminosity and Envy.
For Envy to escape automatic relegation, they need one of Luminosity or Rogue to lose 2-0, and for them to win both of their remaining matches against Renegades. With the Australian team currently playing from their home country, this will be made easier due to their opponents potentially forfeiting one map and playing with high ping in the other.
Rogue and Luminosity's route to avoiding the relegation tournament is also a simple one, they will need to beat INTZ or eUnited, respectively, get a score better than their opponents and hope compLexity lose 2-0 to MIBR as well. They will then need to hope that their round differential is better than compLexity's.
The ESL Pro League Season 8 concludes tonight, with the first matches starting at 7 PM EST.
