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 group stage held throughout the first two weeks and the playoffs in the final week.

The group stage has now concluded and all sixteen playoff teams are confirmed. There were plenty of exciting storylines to follow and the week was full of close matches. So, with all that said, here are our five key takeaways from Groups C & D of ESL Pro League Season 19.

Complexity upset Major winners Natus Vincere to top Group D

Complexity seemed to take well to CS2 on its release, finishing second place in the first event on the new iteration of the Counter-Strike franchise - IEM Sydney 2023. However, they weren’t able to replicate this result, slowly fading away, only managing one other playoff appearance up to this point - a semi-final exit at the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2023. While the results weren’t necessarily there to prove it, the arrival of Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski in the place of Justin “FaNg” Coakley both raised the floor and the ceiling for the American roster. And the ex-Liquid man was integral to their strong performances so far in Saint Julian’s.

Complexity debuted at ESL Pro League Season 19 against PERA, who they quickly dispatched of, setting up a tightly contested match against Heroic. Heroic came out of the blocks strong, going 1-0 up after winning their map pick of Nuke. Then, thanks to strong performances from Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli and EliGE on Vertigo and Anubis respectively, Complexity took the series 2-1. This win guaranteed a playoff place, but Complexity wanted more and a match against current Major trophy holders Natus Vincere was the only thing that stood in their way. A win, while unlikely considering the strong form of the international squad, was what was required to receive direct progression to the quarterfinals.

Johnny “JT” Theodosiou’s men again started a map down, losing their opponent's map pick of Ancient despite a strong showing from Michael “Grim” Wince. However, they quickly returned the series to parity, picking up Anubis with a 13-9 win. So, it all came down to Nuke, where Complexity found themselves 7-5 down at half-time heading onto the CT side. Complexity lost the pistol, making the score 8-5 and decided to force buy, a force that if they lost would see them 10-5 down before the next buy round. That wouldn’t matter though, as Complexity won the force-buy and then the seven subsequent rounds to take the map and the series. EliGE was the driving force for this victory and if Complexity were to fight for the trophy in Malta, he would certainly be in MVP contention.

MOUZ breeze through the competition

MOUZ, fresh off a second-place finish at IEM Chengdu came into ESL Pro League in red-hot form, looking to go one step further and retain their Pro League title. ESL Pro League Season 18, MOUZ’s last tournament victory, was the last event on CS:GO and in Malta once again, the German organisation look to pick up their first trophy on CS2. Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek’s men stormed through all competition in Group C demolishing both Bad News Kangaroos and GamerLegion, setting up a match against the new-look Liquid and a victory never looked in doubt.

MOUZ entered the match with all five players firing on all cylinders and that didn’t stop. The international roster swiftly took apart Liquid, beating them 13-7 and 13-11 on Nuke and Mirage respectively, with IGL suihy picking up a nice ninja defuse on the first map of Nuke. Finish youngster Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo has continued his strong form from Chengdu and remains the team’s highest-rated player in Malta, closely followed by newcomer Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin who has looked great since joining the German organisation. In MOUZ’s side of the playoff bracket, no team stands out and we don’t think it's bold to expect a second-place finish at minimum for the international quintet, with the trophy a definite possibility.

Liquid still off the pace

Liquid resided in Group C alongside MOUZ and although they achieved a playoff berth, finishing second in their group, the international side looked far off the pace. The community had high expectations for the new-look Liquid roster, acquiring two-time Intel Grand Slam winner Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, Danish AWP IGL Casper “cadiaN” Møller fresh off a strong stint with Heroic and promising Brazilian talent Felipe “skullz” Medeiros, but it hasn’t panned out anything like expected. The roster have been together for over five months now and have yet to put their mark on the Counter-Strike scene despite the high level shown by the Canadian duo of Twistzz and Keith “NAF” Markovic.

Liquid started out in Malta against a flailing FURIA, a team playing with stand-in Kayke “kye” Bertolucci from FURIA academy. And this matchup wasn’t plain sailing, requiring all three maps, eventually taking the win on the final map of Nuke. The international roster then faced Monte, and picked up a close fought 2-0, beating them 22-19 and 13-11 on Ancient and Mirage respectively, setting up their match against MOUZ. As mentioned, MOUZ made quick work of Liquid, totally outclassing them across two maps. Liquid haven’t been particularly impressive so far in Malta and haven’t managed to build on the improved performances seen in Chengdu, with cadiaN, skullz and Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis not playing their best Counter-Strike. Their opening playoff match sees them take on the winner of BetBoom/FlyQuest, a matchup they will be the favourites for. Who knows, maybe they can pick up a win and build some momentum in the playoffs, but with the following matchup against eternal enemy Astralis, their prospects don’t look great.

FlyQuest make the Playoffs

American organisation FlyQuest picked up the ex-Grayhound squad just over a month ago and the Australian quintet have put together some strong results ever since. At their debut event, FlyQuest picked up a big win over Cloud9, as well as losing a close series to Virtus.Pro, before losing out to eventual tournament winners FaZe in the lower bracket final. Therefore, Christopher “dexter” Nong’s men came into Malta with high hopes and a playoff position a definite possibility.

FlyQuest were in Group D, with their opening matchup against Natus Vincere, in their first game since winning the Major about a month ago. They were handily beaten by the international squad and sent to the lower bracket, where American side BOSS awaited. The Australians quickly toppled BOSS, before playing Heroic in a close two-map series which they unfortunately lost, sending them to the Last Chance Stage, where they needed to win all remaining games to make the playoffs. Joshua “INS” Potter was superb throughout the group stage, being integral for each win FlyQuest picked up, as well as being the sixth highest-rated player of the entire group stage. And thanks to his heroics, they beat PERA before swiftly dispatching of Ninjas in Pyjamas to make the playoffs, a great achievement.

BetBoom awaits FlyQuest in the playoffs, a game they can certainly win and with a struggling Liquid after that, who knows what dexter and his men can achieve. Either way, FlyQuest look like a strong side, one of the best out of Australia for a long time.

Disappointment for FURIA, ENCE and Heroic

FURIA entered the tournament in disarray, benching long-time IGL Andrei “arT” Piovezan after over six years with the team. Playing with stand-in kye, FURIA had low expectations and they didn’t overachieve, losing an admittedly close game to Liquid before being handed a hefty defeat at the hands of FORZE, sending them straight to the Last Chance Stage. In this stage, Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo’s men did have somewhat of a resurgence, making it all the way to the final match after wins over Bad News Kangaroos and ENCE, before eventually losing out on a playoff spot to Monte. Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato did have a great tournament however, posting some strong numbers individually, something that will need to continue if FURIA’s upcoming rebuild is to be successful.

ENCE put this roster together over five months ago and although it seemed like a strange one, it started pretty strong. However, legendary Danish IGL Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander leading a team full of Polish talent didn’t seem like something that would be overly successful, especially considering it is gla1ve’s first foray into international IGLing. But the results were there, initially, making the Playoffs at Katowice before qualifying for the PGL CS2 Major in Copenhagen. The wheels have now seemingly fallen off, after a dire showing in Malta. ENCE only picked up two wins at ESL Pro League Season 19, over Bad News Kangaroos and Monte, losing twice to GamerLegion and then to FURIA, knocking them out of the tournament despite a strong individual level shown by Olek “hades” Miskiewicz.

Finally, Heroic, another roster put together in the winter break, which saw Heroic duo René “TeSeS” Madsen and Rasmus “sjuush” Beck joined by Guy “NertZ” Iluz from ENCE, Nico “nicoodoz” Tamjidi from Preasy and Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski fresh of an impressive stint with Apeks. All players had had a strong 2023, and therefore this roster looked promising and the results did too, initially. However, things have seemingly turned and their performance in Malta didn’t impress. Heroic started out by comfortably beating NIP and then suffering a narrow loss to Complexity. There was no stress, however, as Heroic were still favourites with no high-calibre teams in the lower bracket. Well, kxysan’s men then, after a quick win over FlyQuest, lost to BIG over three maps, relegating them to the Last Chance Stage, again where they were favourites to proceed. It wasn’t to be though, as Heroic suffered a devastating loss to a makeshift NIP side, knocking them out of the tournament. This was a poor showing from Heroic and with rumours around Abdulkhalik “degster” Gasanov’s imminent arrival, could this be nicoodoz’s last tournament for Heroic?