ESL Pro League Season 18 viewer’s guide
Are you ready for the next big CS:GO esports event? You are in luck, as the ESL Pro League Season 18 tournament kicks off this week! Here’s everything viewers need to know about ESL Pro League Season 18, from the schedule to teams, where to watch, and format.
ESL Pro League Season 18 details
With the release of CS2 on the horizon, we believe this might be one of the final, if not the final, ESL Pro league featuring CS:GO. The event runs from Wednesday, 30 August to 1 October 2023, when a winner will be crowned. A total of 32 teams are competing for their share of the $850,000 prize pool at Saint Julian’s, Malta, in front of a crowd. At the current Dollar to Rand exchange rate, that’s roughly R15.7 million!
The action begins with four triple-elimination format groups, with each group featuring eight teams. All matches are best-of-three. The first-place teams advance to the Quarterfinals of ESL Pro League Season 18, while the 2nd-place teams advance to the Round of 12 in the playoffs as the High Seeds. The third-placed teams in each group advance to the Round of 16 as the High Seeds, while the 4th-placed teams advance to the Round of 16 as the Low Seeds. The rest are eliminated. Check out the teams in their respective groups below.
Group A teams:
- Team Vitality
- ORKS
- NIP
- Astralis
- FURIA Esports
- Movistar Riders
- Grayhound
- GamerLegion
Group B teams:
- Heroic
- Monte
- BIG
- Rooster
- MOUZ
- MIBR
- Evil Geniuses
- ENCE
Group C teams:
- FaZe Clan
- 9z Team
- Imperial Esports
- Fnatic
- 5yclone
- M80
- Apeks
- Na’Vi
Group D teams:
- Eternal Fire
- Cloud9
- Complexity
- 9INE
- Team Liquid
- Virtus.pro
- Lynn Vision
- G2 Esports
The playoffs are a single-elimination bracket affair, with all matches being best-of-three, with the exception of the grand final, which is best-of-five. The winner of ESL Pro League Season 18 gets the lion’s share of the prize pool and direct invites to BLAST World Final 2024 and IEM Katowice 2024. You can catch all the CS:GO esports action over on the official ESL CS:GO Twitch channel.
Header image via ESL.
