Team Vitality’s continued dominance and a test of Team Spirit. Predictions for the ESL Pro League Season 20 quarterfinals.
The long and drawn-out group stage of ESL Pro League Season 20 has come to an end, as well as the first rounds of the playoffs, which were played in a studio without spectators. Next, we have the usual decisive stage for all major tournaments for 8 teams, which, unlike the rest of the EPL season, should be extremely interesting. In the quarterfinals, we will see pairs M80 vs MIBR, Team Vitality vs Eternal Fire, Natus Vincere vs Team Spirit and G2 Esports vs Team Liquid, which already promises interesting meetings between the strongest teams. The ESL Pro League Season 20 format has already given us several sensations, FaZe Clan, MOUZ and Astralis did not make it to the full playoff stage, but this will give us a chance to see new names in action, such as M80, MIBR and Eternal Fire. In this article, we will discuss the upcoming quarterfinals and determine the teams that will play in the semifinals of ESL Pro League Season 20.
M80 vs MIBR
The first quarterfinal looks like a slight reminder of the most boring ESL Pro League format of all championships on the Counter-Strike 2 esports scene. Thanks to it and the unconvincing performance of the favorites, two outsiders will meet in the first quarterfinal – M80 and MIBR.
Thanks to a fairly easy bracket, M80 found themselves in the quarterfinals right away, finishing the group without losses. But the American team beat Complexity, fnatic and Imperial, which is not the most reliable result and the team still does not claim high results in the playoffs. But in the quarterfinals, M80 still has a chance, since it again got an opponent of its strength. MIBR is not a tier-1 team, and at ESL Pro League Season 20 it also defeated not the strongest opponents in the face of 9z and HEROIC, but it has a sensational victory over Team Spirit, but this is more of an accident than a logical result. In the match against G2 Esports, it was not possible to show the same level.
Nevertheless, in this meeting, the Brazilians are the favorites. But the advantage is quite transparent, M80 can also win this meeting. We are leaning towards MIBR’s victory with a 60 to 40 chance.
Team Vitality vs Eternal Fire
The second match of the first game day of the quarterfinal stage also does not shine with intrigue, but the opponents are also at completely different levels. Team Vitality have an 11-match win streak and have already dealt with Team Liquid and FURIA at ESL Pro League Season 20, while the Turks from Eternal Fire barely dealt with The MongolZ in the second round of the playoffs after losing to Natus Vincere. The team has surprisingly gained some good form recently, winning the European closed qualifiers for IEM Rio 2024 and finishing BetBoom Dacha Belgrade Season 2 in second place. However, they are still not up to the task of competing with Team Vitality, the chances of the French team winning are 80 to 20.
Natus Vincere vs Team Spirit
Also in the quarterfinals we are expecting the hottest game in the entire ESL Pro League Season 20, Natus Vincere and Team Spirit will meet in a face-to-face battle. Previously, all matches in these rosters ended in favor of Team Spirit, but Natus Vincere is clearly not that simple. At ESL Pro League Season 20, the teams’ paths turned out to be different, NAVI made it to the quarterfinals without losses, beating Lynn Vision, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Eternal Fire, and Team Spirit faced some problems, but still have only one loss to MIBR in the group. However, this created additional difficulties and the team had to start the playoffs from the first round and play with FURIA and Imperial on the way to the main boss in the person of Natus Vincere.
The teams are as equal as possible, but it is worth considering that Team Spirit turns on at its maximum precisely against such formidable opponents as, for example, Natus Vincere. This means that the team will be maximally charged for victory, especially since NAVI had a two-week rest, while Spirit has already started practicing in official matches at ESL Pro League Season 20. We estimate the chances of Team Spirit winning at 55 to 45.
G2 Esports vs Team Liquid
The last but not least, the quarterfinals of ESL Pro League Season 20 will be the G2 Esports vs Team Liquid match. At first glance, there is an obvious favorite and an underdog, but this is far from the case. G2 Esports have been extremely unstable in their last tournaments, although they are doing well at EPL S20: a direct exit to the quarterfinals and victories over KOI, 3DMAX and MIBR. But 5-6 place at IEM Cologne 2024 raises serious doubts about the team’s confidence and ability to take high positions.
G2 Esports’ opponent is also extremely difficult, almost no one believed in the new Team Liquid roster, but the players managed to prove that the roster poses a great threat to the world’s giants and already occupies the seventh line in the HLTV and Valve ratings. The results at ESL Pro League Season 20 are also encouraging, Team Liquid had crushing victories over ENCE, Virtus.pro, Complexity and an unfortunate close defeat against Team Vitality for first place in the group. We expect that this quarterfinal will be the only one of all that will give a sensation at ESL Pro League Season 20. The chances of Team Liquid winning are 60 to 40.
One of the semifinals promises to be extremely hot, regardless of the outcome of the quarterfinals, two teams will meet in them, who are contenders for the championship title. We expect to see a duel between Team Spirit and Team Liquid, but even with other scenarios, it will be one of the most interesting matches of ESL Pro League Season 20. But in another one, there is no particular intrigue to be expected, Team Vitality will clearly pass Eternal Fire without any problems, and the next opponent in the person of M80 or MIBR will definitely not pose any problems on the way to the grand final. So the real test awaits Team Vitality only in the BO5 match. But they will definitely get a formidable opponent.
Semi-finals of ESL Pro League Season 20:
- MIBR vs Team Vitality
- Team Spirit vs Team Liquid