ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals Tournament Preview & Top Contenders

The ESL Pro League Dallas Season 7 Finals is an upcoming CS:GO LAN event which constitutes the final stage of the ESL Pro League Season 7. The league took place in 4 regions over a 7 weeks period and 16 teams have qualified for the main event.

ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals has a prize pool of $750.000 and is scheduled to take place in Dallas, USA between May 14th – 20th.

ESL Pro League Dallas Season 7 Finals Participants

ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals features 16 teams from all over the world:

• Cloud9

• FaZe Clan

• Ninjas in Pyjamas

• mousesports

• Natus Vincere

• Renegades

• SK Gaming

• Space Soldiers

• Astralis

• NRG Esports

• MVP PK

• Grayhound Gaming

• OpTic Gaming

• HellRaisers

• Team Liquid

• to be decided (South America)

Prize Pool Distribution

The $750.000 prize pool will be divided among participating teams in the following way:

• 1st place: $250.000

• 2nd place: $110.000

• 3rd – 4th place: $55.000

• 5th – 6th place: $32.000

• 7th – 8th place: $24.000

• 9th – 12th place: $22.000

• 13th – 16th place: $20.000

ESL Pro League Finals Top Contenders

Astralis

Astralis is by far the best team in the world at the moment and their DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 performance clearly proved it. The team had been on an amazing run with a massive win rate even before that event, but the title they won there left no doubt in anyone’s mind that Astralis is back to its glory days.

FaZe Clan vs Astralis at the DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018. Astralis ended up being victorious. Photo via https://www.flickr.com/photos/dreamhack/

Going into ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals, Astralis is the number 1 favorite to win the title and should easily get at least a top 4 finish.

Natus Vincere

Na’Vi had two 2nd place finishes this year: one at StarLadder & i-League StarSeries Season 4 and one at the recent DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018. The team also had an excellent 3rd – 4th place finish at ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 several months ago, and overall has been one of the top 5 teams in CS:GO this year.

NaVi at the StarLadder i League StarSeries Season 4. They ended up second place after losing 2 1 to mousesports in the finals. Photo via https://www.flickr.com/photos/starladder/

The main issues with Na’Vi is that it’s highly dependent on s1mple’s form, who is 100% the best CS:GO player in the world for the time being. This guy is unbelievably impactful round after round, map after map and match after match.

Going into ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals, watch s1mple’s form in the first match or two. If he’s playing his usual game, count on Na’Vi to get a deep run. Otherwise the team will be eliminated very early.

Team Liquid

After the acquisition of former SK Gaming player TACO, Team Liquid has become one of the tier 1 CS:GO teams that have an exceptional roster. There’s still a lot more work to be done until Liquid can actually utilize its full capacity, achieve perfect team synergy and actually win trophies, but the potential is definitely there.

Team Liquid at the DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018. They ended up 3rd in a tough Group D and did not make it to playoffs. Photo via https://www.flickr.com/photos/dreamhack/

At its latest tournament, that is DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018, Team Liquid failed in the Group Stage, but it definitely showed a lot of strengths that will become even more obvious at this event. On the other hand, they ended up first in the North American ESL Pro League. Personally, I expect Team Liquid to get a top 4 finish at ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals.

FaZe Clan

In spite of its mediocre performance at DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018, FaZe Clan is still a very strong team with a lot of potential and its recent results are most likely a result of the roster change they’ve gone through after the benching of olofmeister. Xizt is an experienced player and former NiP member and will definitely adapt to his new team over the next few weeks.

FaZe Clan at the StarLadder iLeague StarSeries Season 4. They lost to Team Liquid for the 3rd place match and ended up 4th. Photo via https://www.flickr.com/photos/starladder/

By the time ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals begins, FaZe Clan will have adjusted its playstyle and become one of the strongest teams in the world again. I wouldn’t count on it to win the title, especially with opponents like Astralis in the tournament, but it certainly has what it takes to make it far into the Playoffs.