Season 8 of ESL Pro League is nearly upon us, with the North American portion appearing to be one of the most competitive in history in terms of top-to-bottom talent.
Team Envy have made their return to the Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) scene after previously fielding a French roster under the brand of Team EnVyUs.
This squad brings together three former members of Splyce in Drone, SEMPHIS, and reltuC in combination with free agent jdm64 and former Renegades in-game leader and AWPer (sniper) Nifty.
There are mixed expectations, with the upside being the likes of Nifty and jdm looking to hold down the counter-terrorist (CT) side with a potent double-AWP set-up. This is a team to keep track of moving forward as they get more and more playing time as a five-man unit.
compLexity won’t baffle
After their Cinderella performance that netted them a quarter-final appearance at the FACEIT London Major, compLexity Gaming have become perhaps the most interesting team in the league.
Off the back of incredible individual efforts from the likes of ANDROID, yay and stanislaw, compLexity were the surprise story of the Major. With a map pool that has heavy emphasis on maps people are willing to play such as Inferno, compLexity have set themselves up nicely for a strong season in Pro League.
However, there is concern that compLexity will no longer be able to catch teams off guard, with all of their rivals now having ample time to prepare for them. That said, if yay and/or ANDROID can keep up their previous form, compLexity could emerge as a top squad in Pro League this season.
Cloud9 with curious move
Perhaps the most controversial and unexpected roster move came from Cloud9, who signed flusha. Replacing the stand-in of STYKO, flusha is a player who has had major struggles during the latter half of the year with Fnatic.
Flusha’s stand-out performances came much earlier in the year under the guidance of Golden, the player now in-game leading for Cloud9. autimatic has remained Cloud9’s best player through their multiple roster moves, with hopes the likes of either RUSH or flusha can find a return to form to assist him.
Watch out for NRG
NRG Esports are coming off a semi-final appearance at ESL One: New York that included a best-of-three, 2-0 victory over FaZe Clan. NRG’s only two losses in that event came at the hands of the eventual finalists in mousesports and Team Liquid, as they continued to impress.
With three young stars in CeRq, Brehze and nahtE, NRG have a chance to enjoy long-term success should they stick together, as they showed astonishing promise before the player break.
With minimal chances to show their skills in recent weeks due to their failure to qualify for the Major, NRG are a team lurking just below the top dogs.
Liquid must bounce back
Despite their devastating loss in the Finals of ESL One: New York, Team Liquid enter this season as arguably the most dangerous squad.
Team Liquid continue to falter when the pressure is on, but given the extended format and non-LAN environment, they should still be able to thrive. Even in defeat, Twistzz was so spectacular in New York he earned the MVP award, as he continues to emerge as one of the best players, if not the best, in all of North America.
The player to keep track of is NAF, as he struggled mightily in the finals and he will need to rebound in a big way if Liquid are to maintain their position at the peak of North American Counter Strike.
Team Liquid are the main story in North America this season. Should they react to their stunning loss in New York with roster changes then that move will cascade throughout the rosters of other teams and massively impact the season.
The 12 teams open play on Tuesday in what already is shaping up as an interesting campaign.
First up, at 2310 BST, it’s Renegades v eUnited with the former having been made the 1.819 favourites.
