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ESL Pro League Season 20 Grand Final Preview and Predictions
The playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 20 took an unexpected turn with Team Vitality’s exit from the quarter finals by Eternal Fire. What could’ve been a second trophy lift for Dan "apEX" Madesclaire after IEM Cologne turned into a disappointment despite Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut’s tremendous showing throughout the event.
The dark horse of Malta, Eternal Fire, became the first Turkish squad to reach the Grand Final of ESL Pro League, giving Özgür "woxic" Eker a chance at lifting his second Pro League trophy after his triumph with MOUZ back in 2019. With this in mind, pressure is an aspect which might take a toll on them having to face one of the most convincing teams today yet again in this event, after the last two met during the group stage.
While the victory won’t fall at NAVI’s feet, they did in fact slay the dragon once and can certainly do it again, especially with the title on the line. NAVI’s rifling trio are firing on all cylinders with each player rising to the occasion as witnessed against the other title contending teams; Team Spirit and G2.
So, with each team having a legitimate shot at the title, who will exit the stage as the ESL Pro League Season 20 winner?
Head-to-Head
Eternal Fire and NAVI met three times this year, with the victories going to the latter team. First, in the group stage of IEM Katowice where Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen’s men were the dominant force then later in the quarter finals of PGL CS2 Copenhagen Major, and recently at Pro League in Group A’s upper bracket final.
Except for the Anubis map in their latest series which went to double overtime, NAVI had Eternal Fire by the neck with eight victories compared to only one for the Turkish side over a year ago with a different lineup. If it’s not clear by now, NAVI are the favorites to win ‘again’ and lift the trophy, but how they will do it is solely based on their mighty rifling trio.
The Power Trio vs The Turkish Veterans
A look into Justinas "jL" Lekavičius, Valerij "b1t" Vakhovsjkyj and Mihai "iM" Ivan’s stats during this event is enough to strike fear in any opponent. After all, they were the difference makers with exceptional performances across the board especially from the Major MVP, jL, who’s about to get another MVP trophy by toppling the stats leaderboard with an impressive 82.1% KAST and 87.2 ADR.
The Lithuanian was key to overcoming Team Spirit, while b1t and iM showed their prowess against teams like G2, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Eternal Fire.
On the flip side, İsmailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş is rolling back the years with a vintage performance from his glory days with Space Soldiers as the highest rated player on his team.
İsmailcan thrives as an entry fragger with the second highest opening kills, bested only by Danil "donk" Kryshkovets. However, Eternal Fire’s secret relies on their teamplay with woxic and Ali "Wicadia" Haydar Yalçın finding their own pace and highlights in the most critical situations.
However, the real key to winning for NAVI as the favorites is the wider map variety they boast in this event, and here’s a quick breakdown.
Map Pool
So far, Eternal Fire is undefeated on Inferno and Dust 2 against relatively weaker opponents. But, the black and yellow soldiers boast a 100%-win rate across five different maps including Inferno and Dust 2 which are The Turkish’ haven in this event.
If your opponent has already mastered your playground, the outcome is inevitable regardless of if the map pool for the grand final differs from Group A upper bracket final. It’s almost a nail in their coffin, even if they try to play tricks and pick a surprise map, it’s unlikely to upset NAVI on it.
NAVI for another trophy lift
After breaking down each team’s strong points and weaknesses, it’s clear that NAVI are on a caliber of their own. Yes, Eternal Fire might flip the table on NAVI but those chances are as slim as the sun’s shade on a hot summer day.
From the fire power to the map pool, Aleksib’s team has it all opposite to Vitality, the entire team is making an impact and instead of relying on one player, they thrive as a unit making their success a guarantee.
But regardless of the winner, we’re up to an exciting grand final between the best and an underdog who prevailed, so be sure to not miss a beat or a frag and stay up to date with the latest news on Strafe.
