Team Liquid will look to continue their undefeated start to the North American Pro League Season 7 with Team Dignitas and Renegades on the schedule for Week 3.
Team Liquid flow to a quick start
Team Liquid’s campaign began in Week 2 with a four-win effort, although SK Gaming forfeited both matches due to scheduling conflicts, meaning Liquid’s only competitive result was a 2-0 success over Cloud9.
Liquid have continued their strong recent form and they should be considered favourites against any team in Pro League. Coupled with an easy schedule against the Renegades, a decent side, and Dignitas, one of the worst, anything other than a clean 4-0 week will be a disappointment for them. Look for NAF to continue his incredible play as he maintains his top five players in the world form.
OpTic have mixed results
OpTic Gaming will look to have a convincing week after an up and down debut in Pro League. Appearing for the first time with their brand new squad last week, OpTic initially had solid results. Achieving a 2-0 win over compLexity alongside a 1-1 split with Cloud9 was an impressive opener, yet a 1-1 split with Rogue left much to be desired. Rogue are by no means considered a top team and a blowout loss (3-16) leaves concerns about OpTic’s overall consistency.
OpTic have a chance to remedy this situation this week with only Ghost Gaming on the schedule. Ghost have struggled thus far, dropping all four of their matches including against Rogue. This should therefore be a nice week for OpTic to bounce back and find their rhythm ahead of a more testing schedule.
Splyce consistently inconsistent
Splyce appear to be heading towards another up and down week, continuing a familiar trend. Splyce have had every possible outcome thus far; with a 2-0 win over compLexity and a 1-1 draw with Rogue in the opening week as well as a 0-2 defeat against NRG Esports in Week 2. The most concerning statistic from Splyce’s poor showing against NRG was that they only amassed a total of 14 rounds over the two maps.
Splyce once again enter a week with unknown expectations, given the presence of Renegades and Ghost Gaming on the schedule. While the match against Ghost Gaming should be heavily favoured towards Splyce, Renegades are a completely different story. Renegades have had a nice start to Pro League so far, although they have not played since Week 1, when they gathered a 3-1 record. Renegades typically do not have a high ceiling, especially given the recent loss of star player NAF, although they have always been a decent team in online play.
The expected outcome is a 1-1 split given the play thus far of these teams, but this could turn into one of the more hotly contested matches of the week.
Luminosity hoping to maintain momentum
Luminosity Gaming will look to continue their momentum from Week 2, in which they defeated Team Dignitas with ease. Luminosity have had a quiet yet reasonably impressive start to the Pro League season, highlighted with a win over SK Gaming back in Week 1.
This week Luminosity come up against Rogue, who were able to take down OpTic over the weekend. Luminosity have been the better squad overall this season, although they do not have the star names that Rogue have with Hiko, SicK, etc.
However, Luminosity’s continued story of reasonably high level online play should give them the edge in this match-up, which could turn competitive should Rogue find inspiration following their upset win over OpTic.
The key for Luminosity will be the map selection phase, where they should look to challenge Rogue away from Inferno and Mirage; the only two maps Rogue have played thus far.
Conclusion
With just 12 matches on the slate this week, the ESL Pro League Season 7 North America is relatively quiet before things heat up in Week 4 with 24 matches. However, the teams that are playing this week will want to gain an advantage before heading deeper into the tournament.
