ESL: Hello, Spencer, and thanks for speaking with us ahead of the ESL ESEA Pro League finals. How do you feel about the upcoming clash of the North American and European cream of the crop?
Spencer “Hiko” Martin: Hello! Glad I’m able to be a part of another ESL ESEA offline final! I think this final will be the best out of any so far. Every season the skill gap closes a little bit, not only between American and European teams but also just top teams in general. As time goes on, the game is getting much more competitive, and because of that we’re seeing tons of amazing CS:GO played at offline tournaments.

ESL: During the regular season, you were able to take the first place in North America ahead of Luminosity Gaming. Do you think you can repeat this in California?
Hiko: My team is still very new and very inexperienced. When it comes to offline tournaments, it’s all about how everyone on my team is feeling. Two of my players, nitr0 and EliGE, are both just finishing up their semesters of university, and because of this they have so much on their plates. We’re trying very hard to reproduce our online results online at LAN, and I think we’re still making progress in the right direction.

If I look at the results as of late, I would actually need to put Luminosity ahead of us as far as offline results go. They had a very impressive run at the FACEIT finals at DreamHack this past weekend, and if they’re able to show up with the same intensity they could definitely beat any team in attendance at the ESL ESEA finals.

Hiko at Intel Extreme Masters San Jose

ESL: Compared with last season, you and Conquest replaced the former Luminosity team and Cloud9 in the top four of North America. Would you say that there is a big fight for the top right now?
Hiko: It’s very odd now in the American scene compared with when I was active over a year ago. Back then, there were two clear-cut favorites and all of the teams below us were fighting for a third and fourth place seed. Now it seems even the number one spot is up for grabs and any of the top five teams in NA can beat anyone else depending on the day. I would say I am most surprised that Cloud9 didn’t make both the CEVO and ESEA finals, but now that we know sgares has decided to quit the team maybe it was for the better.

I would say the top teams in NA are (in no particular order) Liquid, C9, Luminosity, CLG and Conquest, and as I just mentioned any team can beat anyone depending on the day. One week it may look like one of the teams is looking really hot and have so much potential, and then the following week they may lose to a top fifteen NA team and people start doubting them once again. It’s very volatile right now, and I think after this last LAN tournament of the year we will see not only roster changes but possibly organization changes as well.

ESL: During DreamHack Winter 2015, you were stopped hard by Team SoloMid. Would you mind meeting them during the groups at the ESL ESEA Pro League finals?
Hiko: At DreamHack Winter we got 16-0ed by them. Although that result looks bad on paper, if you actually look at the stats I think we had ten rounds where we had the first kill and were not able to close the round out. Literally everything went wrong for us that game, losing every single clutch round and having some really weird late round decisions which I don’t think we would ever make again. I would not mind meeting them during group stages, but it looks like we’re in Group A and they’re in Group B so we will have to face them in the playoffs!

ESL: Before DreamHack, your latest results were looking amazing – your second place at the iBUYPOWER Cup and a third/fourth place at Intel Extreme Masters San Jose were a good advertisement for your team. How did you work on the most recent results as a team?
Hiko: We’ve been nonstop traveling almost every single weekend since the DreamHack Cluj Major qualifiers in Sweden. It’s been a very long couple of months and we haven’t really had any time to go ‘back to the drawing board’ and analyze in great detail exactly what has went wrong. We’re doing our best to come up with tactics and fixes for problems on the fly, but without adequate time at home to actually hands-on practice it’s all about theories.

Team Liquid having a good run at Intel Extreme Masters San Jose

ESL: Looking at the teams you might face at the ESL ESEA Pro League finals, are there any that three you’d love to go up against?
Hiko: Assuming I didn’t know the groups at the time of this interview, I would have definitely wanted CLG in our group as the American team. We seem to usually get the better of CLG when we play them and I think our playstyles match better than a team like Conquest.

As far as the European teams go, EnvyUs had a very rough time at DreamHack Winter and didn’t look as impressive as they did when they won the last major. As far as the second European team goes, I think Fnatic matches up well with us as well. We were able to beat Fnatic on de_cbble at PGL the last time we played them so I would like to play them again.

ESL: Thank you, Spencer – the final words belong to you!
Hiko: Thank you for the interview. I’d like to give a shoutout to all of our fans that are continuing to support us through the ups and downs of the team. Also I’d like to give a shoutout to all of the family and friends of me and the guys – without the personal support, it would be very hard to do what we do. Shoutout to our sponsors at Team Liquid: HyperX, HTC, Razer, Alienware, G2A, Quest, Nissan, NEEDforSEAT and LoL Class. And, as always, a shoutout to my mom!

The ESL ESEA Pro League season 2 finals are being played from 10th to 13th of December. Get all the details on the official website and stay up to date by following ESL Counter-Strike on Facebook and Twitter!

Fnatic are on a dominant run – who will be their number one challenger?

Once again, the ESL ESEA Pro League will be bringing you all the matches at prime time in both the European and North American regions. Starting at 19:00 CEST (UTC +2) and 19:00 CDT (UTC -5) respectively, you will get to see Europe and North America’s top twelve teams clash.

ESL ESEA Pro League: the full week one schedule

With the likes of Ninjas in Pyjamas, EnVyUs, SK Gaming, Natus Vincere, mousesports and Fnatic, the European division has a sweet set of matches to begin with. Meanwhile, in the North American division Cloud9 can sit back and watch compLexity, LunatiK, EnemyGG, Tempo Storm, CLG and Team Liquid open up the competition.

Can Cloud9 continue their rise to the top?

On Wednesday and Thursday, even more teams will be having their first matches of the new season, meaning we’ll get to see TSM, HellRaisers, Method, FOLLOWeSPORTS, Titan and Cloud9 all trying to get the second season of the ESL ESEA Pro League off to a good start.

Put your knowledge to test with ESL Fantasy

Think you know how the matches are going to go down? Sign up to ESL Fantasy for the ESL ESEA Pro League and make sure to set up your team in time to score – a CS:GO knife, skins and stickers are on the line for the best fantasy managers!

Whoever you root for, make sure to check the ESL ESEA Pro League website for the full schedule and keep an eye on ESL CS on Twitter and Facebook for further updates, articles and much more!

Sign up for ESL Fantasy now

How does it work?

For ESL ESEA CS:GO Pro League, ESL Fantasy will once again use the budget-based system, with US$5,500 available for you to build your team. As usual, players will score points based on their performance throughout their matches. You will be able to switch players once each match week is over to best set up for the challenges ahead.

Fantasy points are being awarded just like in season one:

You know it all? Win a knife, skins and more!

As the competition is constantly growing, we are very happy to have suiting prizes for the best managers of ESL ESEA Pro League season two. By securing a spot within the Top 10 of the public ranking, you will be able to claim one of these prizes:

• 1st place: M9 Bayonet | Stained + 1x ESL One Katowice 2015 sticker
• 2nd place: 1x AWP | Hyper Beast + 1x ESL One Katowice 2015 sticker
• 3rd place: 1x AK-47 | Wasteland Rebel + 1x ESL One Katowice 2015 sticker
• 4th place: 1x USP-S | Road Rash + 1x ESL One Katowice 2015 sticker
• 5th place: 1x M4A1-S | Atomic Alloy + 1x ESL One Katowice 2015 sticker
• 6th to 10th place: 1x StatTrak Tec-9 | Isaac

Looking for draft mode? Try the private leagues!

In case you want to challenge your friends up front and not just in the open ranking, ESL Fantasy private leagues are the option for you. Up to ten managers pick their players in turns until everyone has their final seven. From this point on you have to set your five starting and two bench players according to who you think will score best. Please note that private leagues do not count towards the seasons prizes!

We wish the best of luck to all managers taking part in season 2! Keep an eye on the ESL ESEA Pro League website for all details on the first week of play and set up your team now. Also keep an eye on ESL Counter-Strike on Twitter and Facebook for updates on the Pro League and more!

In order to give you the best event possible, we have assembled a fantastic talent lineup to bring you all of the action during the four days of the Season 1 finals.

Bringing you the the ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 finals will be:

• Desk Host: Alex “Machine” Richardson
• Analyst and Commentator: Jason “Moses” O’Toole
• Analyst and Commentator: Joona “Natu” Leppänen
• Analyst and Commentator: Jonathan “Devilwalk” Lundberg
• Commentator: Anders Blume
• Commentator: Auguste “Semmler” Massonat
• Commentator: Jason Kaplan
• Commentator: Leigh “Deman” Smith
• Commentator: Lauren “Pansy” Scott
   
• Observer: Janko “YNk” Paunovic
• Observer: Simon “pAn” Schumacher

Click to enlarge

Tickets for the ESL ESEA Pro League finals are still available, so make sure to grab yours here! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to meet the world’s best teams and players, watch some top-notch CS:GO action live and enjoy free drinks, snacks and barbecue!

For more information about the ESL ESEA Pro League, visit the official tournament website.

Get your ticket for ESL ESEA Pro League Finals now!

Who do we get to see playing?

While two weeks of play are still to be done, there is at least a group of favorites to advance to the very first finals. In Europe Team SoloMid is having a 12 point lead on the next in line teams and is the first team so far set for the finals. However, as Fnatic, Virtus.pro, EnVyUs, Ninjas in Pyjamas and HellRaisers are all sitting on 36 points, the upcoming matches will decide who makes it to the top four and takes the step to the finals in Cologne.

dupreeh and his mates are the first set team for Cologne

In North America, Cloud9 and Keyd Stars are on top of the board with 42 points scored. Behind those two, Luminosity Gaming, Counter Logic Gaming, Nihilum, eLevate and Team Liquid all still have a chance of making it to the top four to meet up with the top teams of Europe.

Are Cloud9 able to take the first place over Keyd Stars?

With a total of 13 teams still fighting for a spot at the finals, you can lean back, order your ticket and see how the first season of the European and North American division unfolds this and next week. Also check the official website for the full event schedule and more details.

What can we expect to see in the ESL studios?

Four days of pure Counter-Strike action will make the ESL studios in Cologne, Germany, the place to be for every CS fan. Prepare for almost non-stop action, big clashes and nice plays by the world’s best teams, in the well known and often praised atmosphere of the ESL studios. While enjoying the time at the event, you also get free drinks, snacks as well as more food coming from the BBQ in the backyard.

We hope to see you around in Cologne, Germany, for the very first ESL ESEA Pro League Finals! Stay up to date with all ESL Counter-Strike news by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

HellRaisers surprise in Europe

The biggest surprise to come out of the European league this week was the absolutely monstrous spree by Hellraisers. Over the course of the last few days, the team was able to rack up a 7-2 record, bringing their overall score in the league up to 12-8 (previously 5-6) and them into a four-way tie with Fnatic, Envyus and NiP. The team took key victories which included maps against Dignitas, Fnatic and Titan as well as two consecutive maps against both Na’Vi and PENTA. They now join the race for the top four spots with a potential to qualify for the LAN finals if their performance keeps up, but they will have to get past both Virtus.Pro and current number one seed in the league TSM if they want to keep this possibility alive.

With the rest of Europe nearing the end of their season as well, we can start to get a much better picture of just who might be ending up at the Pro League finals, which are just under a month away. TSM have virtually secured their position. The team has only two more matches remaining, but winning just one of those should make it impossible for them to be removed from the top four. Fnatic is also in a very good position to potentially qualify for the upcoming event. The Swedish team currently sits in the four-way tie for second place, but they have the advantage of only having played 16 of their 22 games for the season, leaving them with plenty of room to get ahead of the pack.

However, trouble begins to brew as we get further down in the very close European division. NiP, with only three matches remaining in this season, must claim victory against all of their remaining opponents (Fnatic, mousesports and Titan) in order to remain competitive in the league and possibly tie with current leader TSM, assuming they lose both of their remaining matches. However, there is still a chance that EnVyUs or Fnatic will slip through the cracks with their last games, and this is where the hope for Hellraisers arises. Although their impressive streak this week put them into the big tie, they only have two matches left in the season. This means that one of the three teams currently tied with Hellraisers must not gain more than a single victory if Hellraisers wishes to overtake them, and Hellraisers themselves must be able to claim their last two matches (or one if they would wish to tie).

We should also not forget Virtus.Pro, who currently lurk behind the rest of Europe with only 11 wins. However, with only 15 of their games being played and a tie for the least amount of losses so far this season, it is very likely that Virtus.Pro will start to swing back to the top as they play out the rest of their season.

The competition in Europe continues to remain tough, and as the closing action continues in the European Pro League, you can expect some great matches as the competitors fight for a spot in the final four.

Keyd Stars even out the score in North America

Meanwhile in the North American division, teams continue their own battle for dominance and to prove their worth coming out of the NA shuffle just a few months ago. This week in the North American league, the team that has been dominating throughout the entire season so far has finally lost their win advantage. Cloud9, having only played two matches this week, lost a key matchup against Brazilian team Keyd Stars on Overpass. This – along with the team’s other victories this week against mouseSpaz, affNity, and Luminosity – have enabled Keyd to tie with current division leader Cloud9. These two teams are now tied with 14 wins, and the possibility for Keyd stars to take the first seed for North America headed into Cologne is looking strong.

Another key matchup was played this week between Luminosity and CLG. Playing out on Inferno, Luminosity started off with a great CT side advantage of 12-3 against CLG. CLG began to bring things under their own control as sides switched and Luminosity was pushed over to the T side – it was starting to look like CLG might take the match after all. Close to the end, however, Luminosity were able to wrangle the match back into their control and steal the victory away with a very close final score of 13-16 in the favor of Luminosity. This key victory now puts Luminosity ahead of both Nihilum and CLG with 12 wins.

The big game to watch in the North American Pro League this week was, of course, the 58-round quintuple overtime match between Luminosity and Keyd Stars. Similarly to Luminosity’s earlier match against CLG which occurred on the same day, the American team started off strong by taking a CT half in their favor, with the score being set at 13-2. Unfortunately for Luminosity, they were unable to take the final three rounds needed to win the match, and this enabled Keyd to tie up the score and take the match into overtime. The teams traded blows for five consecutive overtime sessions, and over the course of this Luminosity was brought within just one round of victory three times in a row – but were unfortunately unable to make this happen. After tying up the scores once again at the end of the fourth overtime, Keyd were able to take a three-round advantage in the first half of overtime five and finally take the fourth round that was required to win as the final half of overtime five as well as a very long and exhausting game for both teams. This gave the match to the players from Brazil, now putting them in a tie for the number one spot in North America.

As in Europe, you can expect more and more exciting games as the season nears its close, so be sure to keep your eyes on the event as it continues!

There are still two weeks of matches left of the ESL ESEA Pro League so be sure to tune in at Twitch.tv/ESL_CSGO for the European matches and at Twitch.tv/ESEA for the North American ones.

The ESL ESEA Pro League season 1 finals start on July the 2nd at the ESL studios in Cologne – be sure not to miss your opportunity to watch the best CS:GO teams live!

Grab your ticket here!

For all the latest information about the CS:GO Pro League, head over to the official website.

Vulcun fantasy leagues

Vulcun has a wide variety of formats for their daily fantasy leagues contest including regular competitions, heads-up matches, double-ups and free-to-enter practice contests. In order to test the waters, we recommend signing up for one of the free daily practice contests, in which you can compete against up to 8,000 players for the best daily fantasy team. Winners can not only get small cash prizes but most importantly gain invaluable experience in the art of building winning fantasy teams.

If you think you’re good enough to measure your skills against other players, you can do so in one of the many cash contests for various buy-in amounts. Even if fantasy sports are a game of skill, be sure to play responsibly and only risk money you are also willing to potentially lose.

Sign up for the Vulcun fantasy league here!

Build your perfect roster

All team managers participating in a contest start with a fixed fantasy budget (such as $10,000) with which they can craft their best possible roster. The roster is then scored based on its performance, with the best team in the contest winning. For each kill, death, assist and headshot, players receive the following points:

Top picks for week six match day one

Although Flipsid3 Tactics is the favorite team to stack because of their three matches in today’s schedule, the prediction pros at Vulcun are not recommending Flipsid3 players. Here’s an overview of who they think are the best investments of the day:

Fnatic’s KRIMZ is the standout for value for his team this year. Due to his price tag ($1,579) and overall consistency, he is a top pick for tonight. Sure to deliver great performances on Fnatic’s map choices of Train and Dust 2 (with emphasis on the latter), he should score better than the team’s most expensive player olofmeister.

Fnatic’s flusha is another top pick this week. Although he is a bit of a wildcard on Train, he performs consistently well on Dust 2. His lower price tag ($1,448) compared to his teammates’ may make him a great alternative for those relying only on the most expensive Fnatic players.

Virus.Pro’s Snax is the best pick for the price ($1,376). Even though a lot of the talk will be about VP’s most expensive player pasha, Snax may still be the better choice for today – he is cheaper and scores the highest out of all of his teammates.

Device of Team SoloMid ($1,527) is the top choice in his team. He only has three negative scoring games out of the last ten, which makes him a consistent source of points. He should be one of the highest scoring one-match players overall.

Finally, we have kennyS from Team Titan. Although he may seem as a questionable choice at first, his raw kill ability could provide the necessary boost you need to excel over other predictable stacks.

Have ideas of your own?

If you want to test your skills against other players on a daily basis, put together your team here! You can also check out ESL’s own fantasy league here.

To find out more about Vulcun’s fantasy league, be sure to visit the official website. For all the latest information about the Pro League itself, check out the ESL ESEA Pro League site!

Europe: EnVyUs catch up to the top of the board

Over the past four play days, no other team has been as dominant as EnVyUs, with the French star players having gained good ground on current top teams TSM, NiP and Fnatic. By winning twice against French rivals Titan as well as against HellRaisers, EnVyUs have improved their position a lot, and are now only six points behind the leading TSM (but still have two matches less than them).

Titan had one of the hardest weeks. After some good results lately, this week saw them work hard but not gain a good chunk of points. While being able to take NiP to the final round and Natus Vincere into overtime, there was little overall gain as they won against PENTA Sports and Flipsid3 Tactics, scoring 6 out of 18 possible points. With an equal 7-7 scoreline so far, they are in the middle of nowhere on the board right now, with a 6-point difference between both the top four as well as the bottom.

North America: Nihilum put some pressure on Cloud9

In the North American division, Cloud9 was able to come back from a loss to Tempo Storm with a three-win streak over ACE Gaming, Counter Logic Gaming and Method. This secured their top position, but Nihilum is breathing down on their necks. With a clean three-win series over Keyd Stars, mouseSpaz and Tempo Storm, they are now on par with the Brazilians and only nine points behind the still-leading Cloud9.

Can CLG find a way to make the top four?

Even though the top three of Cloud9, Nihilum and Keyd Stars looks somewhat set right now, Luminosity, Team Liquid and CLG are still within reach of putting any missteps they make to good use. The upcoming weeks will be interesting – which teams will win the race for the top four?

Coming up next…

With only three more match weeks ahead of us, the chances for catching up to the teams currently sitting in the top four of Europe and North America are getting slimmer. However, as both regions still don’t have a top four set in stone, there not only are three more weeks of ESL ESEA Pro League matches coming your way but also the constant question of how the matches’ results could change the standings.

The full rundown of this week’s matches and those coming up next can be found on the official ESL ESEA Pro League website. Make sure you don’t miss out on any updates or upcoming matches by following ESL Counter-Strike on Twitter and Facebook, and also don’t forget to set up your ESL Fantasy team for the battles ahead!

Europe:

At this point of the season the European Top 4 positions have been unofficially locked into place. TSM was the first to officially be ‘safe’ after taking a win over HellRaisers this Monday. Following closely behind TSM, VP as well as Fnatic, with still plenty of games left to play at the beginning of this week, were able to secure their needed amount of wins to guarantee a spot as well. The final battle would come down to ENVYUS and NiP.

NiP would need to secure all of their remaining three matches in order to place themselves into a possible position to qualify for the Season 1 Finals. This possibility, however would also require a loss in the record of the remaining four matches for the French team, ENVYUS. NBK and his mates performed very strong this week, taking dominating wins against PENTA and Dignitas, as well as a 16-13 victory versus TSM. NiP, on the other hand, while being able to take a match away from mousesports, struggled against fnatic. Their 4-16 loss against the other Swedish team in the league removed NiP’s hopes of attending the finals and solidified ENVYUS’ position. You can look forward to seeing them along with TSM, VP and fnatic in Cologne in just a few short weeks.

North America:

Although the European spots seem pretty much locked in, a very close battle for control of the North American seeds continues throughout this weekend, with many teams still having a few crucial matches to play out. Cloud9 is currently the only team which cannot be removed from the top four. They currently sit with a 17-3 record, three wins ahead of the next team. After C9 however, everything remains up in the air.

KeyD Stars (14-4), Luminosity (13-5), CLG (13-7), Team Liquid (12-8) and even Nihilum (11-7) all sit within very close proximity to each other and with the games still to come this weekend, these five teams will need to pull together all of their strength in order to pull ahead and/or keep themselves in the running for a position at the Pro League finals.

Liquid and CLG currently are on the shakiest terrain. With both teams having played 20 out of their 22 games for the season and with games still ahead against high profile teams such as KeyD Stars and Nihilum, we will need to see these teams win both of their remaining matches in order to keep themselves in the running for a chance at a seat at the Season 1 Finals. For the other three squads, the odds look a little bit higher, with these teams only having played 18 of their 22 games, they have plenty more opportunities to pull ahead of their competition.

For North America it is certainly going to be a very exciting weekend of Counter-Strike in the ESL ESEA Pro League, so be sure to tune into the stream on both nights in order to find out who is going to be earning a ticket to Cologne and who will be left in the dust.

Join us for the ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 Finals!
We hope to see you around in Cologne, Germany, for the very first ESL ESEA Pro League Finals! Stay up to date with all ESL Counter-Strike news by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

Europe

On the European side, three of the four teams have won a CS:GO Major. Fnatic, reigning champion of ESL One Katowice 2015, earned themselves the first spot during the divisional play, but not as gloriously as some might have expected. With Fnatic even in points with Virtus.pro and having only a three-point advantage over EnVyUs and TSM, it looks like we’ll be seeing the four best European teams take on this challenge on an almost even level.

North America

While Cloud9, Keyd Stars and CLG already having had the chance to showcase their skills at CS:GO Major events, Luminosity Gaming will get their first opportunity to win some fan hearts at the ESL ESEA Pro League finals. Unlike the European division, North America’s top teams have put some noticeable space between each other. Cloud9 dominated the scene and only lost three matches, with CLG having taken the fourth spot only because they scored more rounds than the fifth-placed Team Liquid.

Meet the EU and US’s top four live in Cologne!

Want to join us live and in person for the Season 1 finals of the ESL ESEA Pro League at the ESL studios in Cologne, Germany? Grab your ticket now and get the chance to meet all of these awesome teams and players on one of the four events days as well as free drinks and snacks – including barbecue – for all visitors!

Make sure you catch all the latest ESL Counter-Strike updates by following us on Facebook and Twitter!