ESL Pro League Season 19 sees Pro League once again return to Saint Julian’s, Malta where 32 teams will fight it out for the trophy, the $750K prize pool and a direct qualification for IEM Cologne. ESL Pro League Season 19 runs over three weeks, with the first week seeing the 16 teams in Group A & B battle it out and with the final 16 teams set to play this week in Group C & D.

The first two groups have now concluded and the first eight playoff teams are confirmed. There were plenty of exciting storylines to follow and the week was full of intense matches. So, with all that said, here are our five key takeaways from Groups A & B of ESL Pro League Season 19.

Vitality & Astralis breeze through the Group Stage

Both Vitality and Astralis topped their respective groups, neither losing a single map in the process. Vitality were the favourites heading into the Group Stage and they proved that fact in their opening match against Sharks. Dan “apEX” Madesclaire’s men came back after a poor first half on the Brazilian's map pick of Vertigo to win 13-11 and then demolished them on the second map Mirage, thanks to a stellar performance from Lotan “Spinx” Giladi. The international quintet followed that with swift wins over both BetBoom and TheMongolz, only letting their opponents get to double digits once across the four maps. The three-time number one player Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut was at his best in Group A, particularly against BetBoom and throughout the groups the French sniper topped the individual charts, having the highest average rating of 1.72.

Astralis continued their strong form from IEM Chengdu in Malta, form which was found since moving legendary Danish AWPer Nicolai “device” Reedtz to the IGL role and replacing Benjamin “blameF” Bremer with Alexander “br0” Bro. Like in Chengdu, Astralis made quick work of the Group Stage, again besting world number one FaZe. Unlike Vitality, Astralis had to face teams ranked higher than them, beating both Eternal Fire and FaZe on the way to the Playoffs. They began taking on Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli’s Eternal Fire, who had a disappointing Pro League, beating them 2-0 across Vertigo and Overpass. The Danish squad then made quick work of FaZe, with ex-Heroic duo Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard and Martin “stavn” Lund being particularly impressive in this matchup. Their final match was their easiest on paper, and they made it look that way, destroying 3DMAX across two maps. Astralis have again proved they are a strong contender, easily capable of making Playoffs at a big event. The question marks, however, remain in high-pressure matches. Will Astralis be able to challenge for a trophy in the more relaxed studio environment at ESL Pro League Season 19?

Since adding Nemanja “nexa” Isaković, despite the best efforts of Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, G2 have been poor. However, recently there has seemingly been an uptrend in their performances and therefore their results. The international side have made back-to-back semi-finals at the Major and IEM Chengdu and looked to build on those results in Malta. While G2 eventually made the Playoffs, it was not smooth sailing. To start the event, Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen’s men beat out TYLOO but then suffered back-to-back losses, being outclassed 0-2 by TheMongolz and bested in a tight three-map series against M80. The format of ESL Pro League Season 19 saved G2, with them then being sent to the Last Chance Stage. It was at this stage where they handled a test from fellow international side Falcons and managed to beat M80 in their rematch. It was in this rematch where Nikola “NiKo” Kovač showed his class, producing an ace followed by a 4k in overtime on Ancient as G2 went on to win 22-20 on M80’s map pick. While G2 only narrowly scraped through the group, it is behind them now and it was nice to see Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač playing some high-quality Counter-Strike once again. We will see what awaits them in the Playoffs.

Virtus.Pro were our team to watch heading into ESL Pro League Season 19 as they debuted ex-Cloud9 and Natus Vincere star Denis “electroNic” Sharipov after announcing him just over a week before the event began. Before the roster move, VP looked on the precipice of achieving success and this move looks to propel the CIS side to fight for trophies consistently. However, Dzhami “Jame” Ali’s men have flattered to deceive so far in Malta, losing to both fnatic and FaZe on their way to a fourth-place finish. Evgenii “FL1T” Lebedev was on his usual strong form but electroNic failed to make the impression that was expected only beating David “n0rb3r7” Danielyan out in terms of rating. With just two weeks of practice together, however, it is still a promising sign they are already capable of making the Playoffs and the week off will be particularly useful if they plan on fighting for the title in Saint Julian’s.

Surprise Playoff appearances for BetBoom & 3DMAX

When formed in August of last year, BetBoom looked like a team with immense promise. Led by Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov, fresh after departing Cloud9, he initially managed to get the best out of AWP star Aleksandr “zorte” Zagodyrenko, who propelled them to strong results early on. They were joined in the squad by Aleksandr “KaiR0N” Anashkin and Pavel “s1ren” Ogloblin fresh off respective stints with Virtus.Pro and Spirit respectively. Rounding out the roster was a relatively unknown player - Danil “danistzz” Roslyakov, and he was the one to make way following failure at the RMR earlier in the year. He was replaced by Kirill “Magnojez⁠” Rodnov, who aside from a poor performance against Vitality, has had a great tournament so far, particularly shining against Falcons. The Russian side managed to gain a Playoff berth following a win over M80.

3DMAX making the playoffs was not on anyone’s cards heading into ESL Pro League Season 19 but they managed it. Despite not picking up any big victories, the French side beat what was put in front of them, first besting SAW in a tight 2-0 and then easily putting fnatic aside to make the group final and guarantee a Playoff place. Bryan “Maka” Canda’s men were then handily dispatched by Astralis, resulting in a second-place finish. Ex-G2 player Lucas “Lucky” Chastang has played well so far in Malta, being the team’s highest-rated player and shining in both of their series wins.

A strong showing for TheMongolz

It was at IEM Katowice 2023, playing under the IHC banner, where the Mongolian side first shook the Counter-Strike scene, picking up a surprise series win over Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov’s Cloud9. Flash forward to today, now playing under TheMongolz, Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren’s team have remained competitive and a mainstay in the Counter-Strike landscape. Earlier this year, TheMongolz made history by making the Legends Stage at the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024. They have built upon this strong result in Malta, picking up big wins over both Falcons and G2, only losing out to Vitality to finish in second place in Group B. Sodbayar “Techno” Munkhbold has had a particularly good group stage, alongside sniper Usukhbayar “910” Banzragch and 16-year-old rifle player Ayush “mzinho” Batbold who also both shone. TheMongolz look like a tightly knit unit and are playing some great Counter-Strike at the moment under bLitz’s leadership. It will be interesting to see if they can replicate that level in the Playoffs.

Falcons continue to struggle

In the winter break, Falcons entered the Counter-Strike scene with huge aspirations of building an international giant capable of winning the biggest accolades. This dream is yet to be realised and has even been a little disastrous up to this point.

Their acquisitions were Danny “zonic” Sørensen and Emil “Magisk” Reif from Vitality alongside the ENCE trio of Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer Pavle “Maden” Bošković and Álvaro “SunPayus” García. These five joined Jordanian star rifler Mohammad “BOROS” Malhas on the roster and expectations were sky high. In their four months together, they have made the Playoffs just once at IEM Katowice and failure at the Major caused the Saudi Arabian organisation to already make some changes - bringing in Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen from Preasy. This Falcons side is now full of veteran players and overwhelming experience but still failed to impress in Malta. The five-time Major winner had a strong first outing at Pro League but the international quintet only picked up a single series win against a struggling TYLOO side. With Snappi at the helm, these results need to turn and turn quickly otherwise the players who made the jump to this organisation from stable teams may start to regret their decision.