ESL Pro League Season 1

ESL Pro League Season 1, officially known as ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 and shortened as EPL Season 1, was an Electronic Sports League (ESL) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. It was the first season of the ESL Pro League. The Finals took place in Cologne, Germany from July 2, 2015 to July 5, 2015. Teams from two continents, North America and Europe, competed in twelve team leagues and play against each other twice to determine the top four teams from each continent would play in the Finals.

ESL Pro League
2015
Tournament information
SportCounter-Strike: Global Offensive
LocationCologne, Germany
DatesMay 4, 2015–July 5, 2015
Administrator(s)Electronic Sports League (ESL)
Teams24 teams
PurseUS$500,000 for Finals
Final positions
Champions Fnatic
1st runners-up Cloud9
2nd runners-up Counter Logic Gaming
Virtus.pro

The regular season for Europe began on May 4, 2015 with Team Dignitas beating Titan and ended on June 24, 2015 with the same two teams with the same result. North America's season began on the same date and kicked off with Luminosity Gaming defeating Method and ended with Method defeating mouseSpaz. The season officially concluded with Fnatic defeating Cloud9 in a close best of five finals, 3-1.[1]

Format

On April 28, 2015, ESL announced a joint venture with ESEA to provide a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league with US$1,000,000 in total prize money in 2015. ESL invited twelve teams to each league to participate in its professional league. Each team would face off against every other team twice to play in twenty-two games throughout the eight week season. The top four teams from each continent would move on to the finals in Germany and would be automatically invited to the next season. Teams that placed fifth to ninth would not qualify for the finals, but would still be invited to Season 2. Teams that placed tenth and eleventh would have to play in a relegation phase, in which those teams and teams that placed second and third in ESEA Season 19's Premier League, the league under the Pro League, would face off to qualify for two spots in next season's Pro League. The team that placed first in the Premier League would qualify for Season 2. The team that placed twelfth in the Pro League would automatically be demoted to the Premier League.

The finals consisted of eight teams, four from Europe and four from North America. The teams would be placed in two groups and play in a four team, double elimination GSL group stage. In each group, the highest seed played against the lowest seed and then the other two teams would play a best of one game. Then, the winners would play against each other to determine which team takes the top spot. The losers would fight it out to determine which team goes home. The top seed would earn an automatic berth to the semifinals. The playoffs consisted of six teams. The loser of the winners' match and the winner of the losers' match in the group stage would face off against each other in the Round of 6 in a best of three. The winners of those matches went on to face the opposite group stage winner, such that the top seed of Group A would face off against the runner-up of Group B, and vice versa. The winners of those matches would move on to the finals in a best of five series.[2]

Teams
North America
Europe

North America

Final Standings
Final Standings
Place Prize Money Team W-L RF-RA RD Pts Roster Coach
1st US$18,000 Cloud9 19-3 334-214 +120 57 fREAKAZOiD, n0thing, seang@res, Skadoodle, shroud GBJame^s
2nd US$16,500 Keyd Stars 17-5 347-272 +75 51 boltz, FalleN, fer, steel, zqk
3rd US$15,000 Luminosity Gaming 16-6 345-257 +88 48 anger, LeX, ptr, NAF, pyth
4th US$13,500 Counter Logic Gaming 14-8 333-253 +80 42 hazed, jdm64, reltuC, tarik, FNS
5th US$13,000 Team Liquid 14-8 311-245 +66 42 adreN, ELiGE, flowsicK, FugLy, nitr0 dmode
6th US$11,500 Nihilum Gaming 13-9 292-293 -1 39 autimatic, Hiko, sancz, valens, Semphis LEGIJA
7th US$10,000 eLevate 11-11 311-291 +20 33 Professor_Chaos, roca, RUSH, Storm, Xp3
8th US$8,500 Tempo Storm 10-12 272-277 -5 30 glorinsz, hades, stanislaw, ryx, ShahZaM
9th US$7,000 affiNity 8-14 260-293 -33 24 abE, arya, focs, DAVEY, jasonR
10th US$5,500 Method 6-16 256-316 -60 18 Eley, just9n, MAiNLiNE, SileNt3m, streboR
11th US$4,000 mouseSpaz 2-20 186-342 -156 6 dmize, impsta, pauLy, zecK, fruit
12th US$2,500 ACE Gaming 2-20 145-345 -200 6 Grt, PEX, vEz, decipLe, Maxaki

Europe
Final Standings
Place Prize Money Team W-L RF-RA RD Pts Roster Coach
1st US$18,000 Fnatic 17-5 325-179 +146 51 flusha, KRiMZ, JW, olofmeister, pronax vuggo
2nd US$16,500 Virtus.pro 17-5 329-251 +78 51 byali, NEO, pashaBiceps, Snax, TaZ kuben
3rd US$15,000 Team SoloMid 16-6 319-248 +71 48 cajunb, dev1ce, dupreeh, karrigan, Xyp9x 3k2
4th US$13,500 Team EnVyUs 16-6 312-215 +97 48 Happy, kioShiMa, NBK-, shox, SmithZz
5th US$13,000 Ninjas in Pyjamas 14-8 292-261 +31 42 f0rest, friberg, GeT RiGhT, Xizt, allu natu
6th US$11,500 HellRaisers 12-10 317-297 +20 36 ANGE1, AdreN, Dosia, kUcheR, mous lmbt
7th US$10,000 Natus Vincere 11-11 300-268 +32 33 Edward, flamie, GuardiaN, seized, Zeus starix
8th US$8,500 Team Dignitas 9-13 247-282 -35 27 aizy, Kjaerbye, MSL, Nico, Pimp
9th US$7,000 Titan 12-10 270-294 -24 36 Rpk, shox, SmithZz, Ex6TenZ, ScreaM
10th US$5,500 mousesports 9-13 262-294 -44 21 denis, gob b, nex, Spiidi, chrisJ
11th US$4,000 PENTA Sports 2-20 166-340 -174 6 kRYSTAL, strux1, tabseN, Troubley, stavros
12th US$2,500 FlipSid3 Tactics 2-20 154-330 -176 6 B1ad3, bondik, DavCost, markeloff, WorldEdit Johnta

Finals

The finalized teams are shown below.

North America
Europe

Broadcast Talent

Host

  • Alex "Machine" Richardson

Commentators

  • Anders Blume
  • Jason "JKaplan" Kaplan
  • Auguste "Semmler" Massonnat
  • John "BLU" Mullen
  • Lauren "Pansy" Scott
  • Leigh "Deman" Smith

Analysts

  • Jonatan "Devilwalk" Lundberg
  • Joona "natu" Leppänen
  • Jason "moses" O'Toole

Observers

  • Janko "YNk" Paunović
  • Simon "pAn" Schumacher

Group A
Pos Team W L RF RA RD Pts
1 Virtus.pro 2 0 32 14 +18 6
2 Cloud9 1 1 26 29 -3 3
3 Team EnVyUs 1 1 29 23 +6 3
4 Luminosity Gaming 0 2 43 76 -33 0
Group A Matches
Team Score Map Score Team
Virtus.pro 16 Cobblestone 4 Luminosity Gaming
Cloud9 16 Cache 13 Team EnVyUs
Cloud9 10 Overpass 16 Virtus.pro
Luminosity Gaming 7 Dust II 16 Team EnVyUs

Group B
Pos Team W L RF RA RD Pts
1 Counter Logic Gaming 2 0 32 21 +11 6
2 Keyd Stars 1 1 25 28 -3 3
3 Fnatic 1 1 29 30 -2 3
4 Team SoloMid 0 2 26 32 -6 0
Group B Matches
Team Score Map Score Team
Fnatic 12 Mirage 16 Counter Logic Gaming
Keyd Stars 16 Inferno 12 Team SoloMid
Keyd Stars 9 Cache 16 Counter Logic Gaming
Fnatic 16 Overpass 12 Team SoloMid
  Round of 6     Semifinals     Finals
                           
        B1 Counter Logic G. 0  
  A2 Cloud9 2     A2 Cloud9 2    
  A3 Team EnVyUs 0         A2 Cloud9 1
      B3 Fnatic 3
        A1 Virtus.pro 1    
  B2 Keyd Stars 0     B3 Fnatic 2  
  B3 Fnatic 2  

Round of 6
Round of 6
Team Score Map Score Team
Cloud9 16 Dust II 12 Team EnVyUs
Cloud9 16 Cache 12 Team EnVyUs
Cloud9 – Train – Team EnVyUs
Keyd Stars 5 Inferno 16 Fnatic
Keyd Stars 16 Train 19 Fnatic
Keyd Stars – Dust II – Fnatic

Semifinals
Semifinals
Team Score Map Score Team
Counter Logic Gaming 5 Cache 16 Cloud9
Counter Logic Gaming 8 Dust II 16 Cloud9
Counter Logic Gaming – Overpass – Cloud9
Virtus.pro 16 Cache 12 Fnatic
Virtus.pro 3 Train 16 Fnatic
Virtus.pro 9 Dust II 16 Fnatic

Finals
Finals
Team Score Map Score Team
Cloud9 16 Cobblestone 14 Fnatic
Cloud9 6 Cache 16 Fnatic
Cloud9 14 Overpass 16 Fnatic
Cloud9 15 Dust II 19 Fnatic
Cloud9 – Inferno – Fnatic

References
  1. Kovanen, Tomi (July 15, 2015). "FNATIC WIN ESL ESEA SEASON 1 FINALS". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  2. "ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 overview". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
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