After two months of fierce competition, season four of the ESL Pro League has concluded its online stage. The top six teams from the European and North American leagues are set to go to the offline finals in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The LAN will take place at the end of the month: 28-30 October.
The European League was the first to draw to a close. The top six teams in the league went through, and there were certainly surprises. The team-list saw notable absences including Astralis, Na`Vi and Virtus.pro, which some suggest could lead to a weaker European offering. However, the new iteration of Fnatic made it through and they have a point to prove which could make for an exciting tournament. Dignitas will also be one to watch – after qualifying over Virtus.Pro – they will be looking to keep up their great run of form which saw them victorious at WESG EU.
North America was different to the European counterpart. Renegades decided to go to the Asian Minor over potential qualification to the Pro League, and thus instantly forfeited their finals spot. As a result, the team that finished seventh also earned a spot in Sao Paolo. There are also notable absentees from the North American cohort, as CLG miss out with shock entrant NRG taking a spot instead. The form of SK Gaming recently has been far from their best. They’ll be heading to Sao Paolo with high hopes that they can recover their championship winning form.
The full team list is as follows:
 Fnatic |
 Cloud 9 |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas |
 Immortals |
 mousesports |
SK Gaming |
| FaZe Clan |
 OpTic Gaming |
 Team EnVyUs |
 NRG eSports |
 Team Dignitas |
Team Liquid |
The finals are set to take place over the 28th-30th October at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera, Sao Paolo, Brazil. The prize-pool stands at over $600,000, with $200k awarded to the winners. More information is available on the ESL Pro League website.
Esports Insider says: With big money on the line here, and some notable names missing, it’ll be an interesting tournament to watch. We wonder which of the lower tier teams manage will manage to step up their game when some of the ‘bigger boys’ are away. Should the tournament be of a lower standard – there may be questions asked over the qualification process being purely a league format.