The ESL Pro League Season 14, abbreviated as EPL Season 14 and EPL XIV, was the fourteenth season of the

ESL English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EF ...

organized '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' league, the

ESL Pro League The ESL Pro League (formerly ESL ESEA Pro League; shortened as EPL) is a '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' (CS:GO) professional esports league, produced by ESL. It is based on four regions: Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania, and currentl ...

. Held between August 16 and September 12, 2021, as an online tournament, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Part of the ESL Pro Tour, the season's twenty-four teams competed for a prize pool and for 7,400 ESL Pro Tour Points (EPT), used by ESL to determine the participants of its two main events each year, in Katowice and Cologne. Russian team

Natus Vincere Natus Vincere (Latin for "born to win"), abbreviated NAVI (formerly Na`Vi), is a Ukrainian esports organization based in Kyiv. Founded in 2009, the organization has teams and players competing in various games, such as ''Counter Strike: Global ...

won the league for the first time, by beating French team

Vitality Vitality (, , ) is the capacity to live, grow, or develop. More simply it is the property of having life. The perception of vitality is regarded as a basic psychological drive and, in philosophy, a component to the will to live. As such, peopl ...

3–2 in the final. For the win Natus Vincere, received of the prize pool and an additional , by becoming the third team to complete the

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

Grand Slam. Furthermore, Navi received 1,300 EPT, with Vitality receiving 1,000. Navi's Aleksandr "

s1mple Oleksandr Olehovych Kostyliev rus, links=no, Александр Олегович Костылев, Aleksandr Olegovich Kostilev (born 2 October 1997), better known as s1mple, is a Ukrainian professional '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive' ...

" Kostyliev was named the

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

Background and format

The

is a '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' league, organized by German

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

company

. Season 13 concluded on April 11, 2021, with Danish team Heroic beating Russian team

Gambit A gambit (from Italian , the act of tripping someone with the leg to make them fall) is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices with the aim of achieving a subsequent advantage. The word ''gambit'' is also sometimes used to describe simi ...

2–3. The qualification period started immediately after, with initial plans for the season to be played on-sight in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, ESL announced on July 20, that all matches would be played online from Europe. Initially planned to be a LAN-tournament, with the matches being played in

, the season was like the previous three seasons played online, due to the

. The group stage of the season used the round-robin format; all teams in a group had to play once against each other in best-of-three matches. Each win gave a team three, each loss zero points. On July 27, ESL announced that the format of the tournament would change, removing the two play-off matches between the group's winner. Instead, the group's best-performing team would immediately advance to the quarterfinals, with the each group's second and third to play another match, to get the four last quarter finalist. According to ESL, the system was changed due to "feedback gathered from the community and in agreement with the teams and players".

Map pool

Dust 2 "Dust II", also known by its filename de_dust2, is a Level (video games), video game map featured in the first-person shooter series ''Counter-Strike''. Dust II is the successor to "Dust", another ''Counter-Strike'' map, and was developed by Da ...

* Mirage * Inferno * Overpass * Nuke * Vertigo * Ancient

Teams competing

Like the previous season, 24 teams competed in the tournament. Twelve of those are permanent partners of ESL, therefore being invited directly to the season. Seven more teams were chosen by ESL, based on their positions on the companys ''CS:GO World Ranking''. The five final teams qualified through tournaments held by ESL's partner,

ESEA ESEA may refer to: *East and Southeast Asia, a modern term for the Far East *In the UK, an alternative to British East and Southeast Asian (or BESEA) *Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a 1965 United States federal statute considered the most ...

. Renegades qualified for the season in a one-of Oceania plaoff against the team Order, winning 3–1 on June 29. However, on August 11, Renegades announced that they would not participate, citing travel restrictions due to the ongoing pandemic. Joshua "INS" Potter said in a video released via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that "Unfortunately, due to the global pandemic right now, we will be unable to attend ESL Pro League". ESL replaced Renegades with the Russian team forZe. Bad News Bear and TeamOne qualified via winning the ESEA Premier Season 36 and 37 North America, respectively. Sinners qualified on June 27, winning the 37th Season of ESEA Premier, scoring 2–0 against Polish team AGO, making Sinners the first Czech team to play in the EPL. ;Permanent partners *

Astralis Astralis is a Denmark, Danish esports organization. Best known for their ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' team, they also have teams representing other games, such as ''FIFA'' and ''League of Legends''. The parent group of Astralis is the A ...

Complexity Gaming Complexity Gaming, formerly stylized as compLexity, is an American esports franchise headquartered in Frisco, Texas. The franchise was founded in 2003 by Jason Lake and is co-owned by Lake, real estate investor John Goff, and Dallas Cowboys ow ...

ENCE Ence may refer to: * Ence (company), a Spanish multinational company * Ence (esports), a Finnish esports organization {{Disambiguation ...

Evil Geniuses Evil Geniuses (EG) is an American esports organization based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1999, the organization has fielded players in various fighting games, ''Call of Duty'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Dota 2'', ''Fortni ...

Faze FaZe Clan (formerly FaZe Sniping) is a professional esports and entertainment organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California, USA. Founded on May 30, 2010, the organization has players from around the world, across multiple games, inclu ...

Fnatic Fnatic (pronounced "fanatic"; also stylized as fnatic or FNATIC) is a professional esports organization headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Founded 23 July 2004, the team has players from around the world, across a variety of games, such ...

G2 Esports G2 Esports (G2) is a European esports organization headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with players competing in ''League of Legends'', ''Valorant'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', '' Hearthstone'', ''Rocket League'', ''Rainbow Six Siege ...

mousesports Mouz (stylized as MOUZ), formerly mousesports, is a professional esports organisation based in Germany. It fields teams in several games but is particularly known for its '' CS:GO'' team. MOUZ was one of the founding members of the G7 Teams. M ...

Ninjas in Pyjamas Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) is a professional esports organisation based in Sweden that is best known for its ''Counter-Strike'' teams. In 2012, the team reformed with a '' Counter Strike: Global Offensive'' lineup upon the release of the game. Asi ...

Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. With the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'', Team Liquid signed their first professional players. In 2012, Team Liq ...

;Invited *

Gambit Esports Gambit Esports, formerly Gambit Gaming, is a Russian esports organization owned by telecommunications company MTS. It was established in January 2013 after the acquisition of the former ''League of Legends'' roster of Moscow Five. Gambit has ...

Heroic Heroic may mean: *characteristic of a hero *typical of heroic poetry or of heroic verse *belonging to the Greek Heroic Age *Heroic (esports), a Danish esports organization *Heroic (horse) Heroic (1921–1939) was an Australian Thoroughbred ra ...

Virtus.pro Virtus.pro (VP) is an international esports organization founded in 2003 in Russia and acquired by Armenian investors in 2022. The organization has players competing in such games as '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', '' Dota 2'', ''Rainbow ...

* BIG * Furia *

Team Spirit Team Spirit was a joint military training exercise of United States Forces Korea and the Military of South Korea held between 1974 and 1993. The exercise was also scheduled from 1994 to 1996 but cancelled during this time period as part of diploma ...

* OG * forZe ;Qualified * Bad News Bears * Renegades * Entropiq * TeamOne * Sinners

Broadcast talent

;Desk hosts * Tres "stunna" Saranthus * Jason "jKaplan" Kaplan ;Analysts * Janko "YNk" Paunović * Jason "moses" O'Toole * Mathieu "Maniac" Quiquerez ;Sideline Reporters: * Frankie "Frankie" Ward * Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett ;Commentators * Chad "Spunj" Burchill * Alex "Machine" Richardson * Harry "JustHarry" Russell * Hugo Byron * Jamie "TheEternalJay" Martin * Jack "wolfy6678" Saunders * George "Bofferz" Bray * Daniel "DanChan" Challinor * Joshua "Dweg" Nathan * Dean "Dean" Brown ;Observers * Michael "MC" Campagna * Alexander "Rushly" Rush * Jake "Jak3y" Elton * Ryan "ItsRandall" Randall

Group stage

The group stage was divided into four groups each with six teams. Based on the tournament format, each team had to play five best-of-three matches. A win would be awarded with three points, a loss with zero. The group's best performing team would immediately advance to the quarterfinals, the second and third place had to play another best-of-three match in the round of twelve. Heroic and OG both won their group's without a single loss.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Playoffs

Bracket

Round of 12

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

Post-season

For winning the tournament, Natus Vincere received of the prize pool (26%) and a spot in the BLAST Premier World Final 2021, which will be held in December 2021. With the win, Navi became the third team to complete the Intel Grand Slam, a special

sponsored competition, awarding to the first team to either win "six ESL Pro Tour Masters tournaments inside a span of ten consecutive events" or winning "four ESL Pro Tour Masters tournaments inside a span of ten consecutive events, inclusive of a Championship level". Navi's run started with winning IEM Katowice 2020 in February 2020, the DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 in April, IEM Cologne 2021 and finally EPL Season 14. Furthermore, the team received 1300 Pro Tour Points, which are used by ESL to determine the participants of its two main events each year—Katowice and Cologne. The team accumulated 4137,50 Points by September 12, 2021. Navi's Aleksandr "

" Kostyliev was named the seasons

Most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

(MVP), giving him his third MVP in a row and the 16th of his career. French runner-ups Vitality received (10,7 %) of the prize pool and 1,000 Pro Tour Points. By September 12, Vitality accumulated 2162,50 points, placing them seventh on the leaderboard. Mathieu "

ZywOo Mathieu Herbaut (born November 9, 2000), better known as ZywOo, is a French professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player for Team Vitality. He is considered one of the best players in Global Offensive history, having been ranked the No. ...

" Herbaut was the second best-performing player of the tournament, with the a 1.31 rating. Heroic and OG each received and 780 PTP. According to ''eSports Charts'' the season's final was watched by more than 750,000 viewers with an average viewership of around 130,000 per match.

Final standings

References

{{ESLevents 2021 in esports ESL Pro League