Preview Group D: Can anyone stop the youngsters from Gambit?

The first three groups at ESL Pro League Season 14 are done and dusted and it’s now time for Group D to commence. The last group presents a mixed lineup of teams, that both contain superstar teams, talented and promising rosters, but also dangerous underdog teams. Here is everything you need to know about the teams.

1. Gambit

Gambit comes into the tournament as one of the biggest favourites for the overall victory alongside their Russian countrymen from NAVI. The Vladislav ‘nafany’ Gorshkov-led side has been a forceful factor on the top of CS:GO for the entire 2021 season, with them having won no more than five big titles so far.

Their last result before the tournament break was a 5-6th place at IEM Cologne, which were the roster first big LAN event together. Despite, the rather disappointing showing at IEM Cologne, we have them as heavy favourites to take the #1 place in the group.

2. NIP

NIP’s exciting project build around the superstar Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz has now been around for over four months, with the now Danish-Swedish mixed roster having presented a few impressive results this year. dev1ce and company were close to winning Flashpoint 3 in May, only losing to mousesports in the Grand Final.

The Swedes are running an innovative and quite rare form of roster rotation, where we have seen the two Young Ninjas players Erik ‘ZTR’ Gustafsson and Linus 'LNZ' Holtäng switch between the fifth spot on the roster. Now, it looks like that it’s the latter who’s got the upper hand, as he will play at this EPL Season 14.

3. Liquid

If this were two years ago, we’ve had Liquid at the very top of our predictions as the winner of the entire tournament. However, the iconic North American organization looks to be far past their prime where they ruled the entire CS:GO scene.

Their star player Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski has continued to present an impressive consistency in his play, which also has led and carried Liquid in several periods this year. The American has alongside Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic been the two best performing individuals in 2021. Liquid goes into EPL with an unsatisfactory 9-12th place from IEM Cologne, where they suffered two devastating 16-2 and 16-6 map losses to the Swedes from NIP.

4. Entropiq

Entropiq has been a very refreshing element in the CS:GO scene in 2021. The promising Russian roster, which plays under the Czech banner, has managed to establish themselves, as what looks like a consistent Top 20 team in the world. A fresh 1st place at Malta Vibes Knockout Series 1 and a silver medal at Spring Sweet Spring 3 show that Entropiq is a very potent team.

However, as their tournament calendar also shows. It’s not many top-tier events they are competing in, which means their experience and knowledge with the top teams aren’t that big. And that may also look like their biggest weakness here at ESL Pro League.

5. FURIA

The Brazilian Panthers from FURIA has begun to look rather tame and harmless lately. The otherwise strong and dominant team led by the always aggressive Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan is no longer feared by the CS:GO elite after a disappointing year so far. Despite their recent win at Elisa Invitational Summer, they have not accomplished anything particular, especially if you compare with their phenomenal 2020-season or the year before that.

FURIA’s chances at this ESL Pro League was reduced heavily when the South American organization announced that Lucas ‘honda’ Cano wouldn’t travel to Europe with the rest of the team, owing to his mother getting tested positive for Covid-19. This means that FURIA will play with their head coach Nicholas “guerri” Nogueira as a stand-in.

guerri to stand in for FURIA in EPL

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6. TeamOne

At the bottom of Group D, we predict that TeamOne will be found when the group stage is over. The Brazilian team actually possess a very exciting and talented roster with interesting players like Mario ‘malbsMd’ Samayoa and Matheus ‘pesadelo’ Panisset as their most powerful weapons.

The strong duo of malbsMd and pesadelo together with the veteran in-game leader Pedro "Maluk3" Campos will have a lot of possibilities to make some upsets at Group D, however, they will most likely still end out of playoff contention. Something, their last showing at ESL Pro League Season 13 also indicates, where they lost all five group games.