- ESL Pro League 14 has revealed all four groups featuring the 24 competing teams
- The groups will run from August 16 through September 5 and be played consecutively for a week each
- All top three teams from each group will advance to the playoffs and have a shot at winning the Intel Grand Slam event
The final groups for the upcoming ESL Pro League Season 14 have been announced, with the action taking place from August 16 through September 5.
All Groups for ESL Pro League Season 14 Locked In
Following the news that the ESL Pro League Season 14 will have to move to an online format, the event organizers have been able to reveal the full list of 24 teams as well as the groups for the Intel Grand Slam tournament.
Split into four groups of six teams, and the competition will be intense as it would offer the top three teams from each group a chance to progress into the race, with the others chucked out of the esports tournament.
Groups have been balanced out based on the team's current ranking in the global standings, with the majority being fairly evenly matched, bringing the opportunity for spectacular CS:GO plays as the month-long event unfolds. The groups are as follows:
Group A
- Astralis, Bad News Bears, ENCE, Heroic Team Vitality, Team Spirit
Group B
- Complexity, G2 Esports, OG, Renegades, Sinners Esports, Virtus.Pro
Group C
- BIG, Evil Geniuses, Fnatic, Faze Clan, mousesports, Natus Vincere
Group D
- Entropiq, Gambit Esports, FURIA Esports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid, Team One
The group will be played in a sequence for a week each from August 16 through September 5, when Group D will finish its group matches.
Who Will Claim the Grand Slam Prize Pool?
Earning enough victories throughout Intel Grand Slam comes with its own reward, a $1 million prize purse that is allocated to the first team to win three qualifying events. While in most other cases, that was done fairly quickly by the likes of Astralis or Team Liquid, this season has dragged on, not least by difficulties in organizing events impacted by the pandemic.
Even with vaccination rates increasing, there have been a lot of last-minute changes. IEM Cologne was played in a LAN setting, and a similar format was expected for ESL Pro League Season 14, but the epidemiologic situation and uncertainty over traveling restrictions pushed ESL to reconsider.
IEM Cologne was a good stop, though, as it allowed teams to take a proper look at their rosters and see if they can do any better in the follow-up event. Because of the “chain format” of the league, teams will have enough time to study each other's plays and analyze a winning strategy.
Astralis has refreshed its roster with the addition of Lucky, an AWP player, and Fnatic has decided to bench JW and Golden in hopes of better placing this time around. Many teams feel more comfortable playing online as well as it saves them jet lag and allows them to compete in a familiar setting.
Expect big plays from the dark horses in the upcoming ESL Pro League Season 14.
