ESL Pro League Season 4

ESL Pro League Season 4 (shortened as EPL Season 4) was a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament run by ESL. It was the fourth season of the ESL Pro League, and had an overall prize pool of $750,000 . For the first time, the Finals took place in South America – São Paulo, Brazil, from October 28 to October 30.^[2] Teams from two continents, North America and Europe competed in fourteen team leagues to attempt to qualify for the Finals.^[3] Europe's season began with FaZe Clan defeating Team X (which later formed into Heroic) and ended with Team Dignitas defeating Virtus.pro in a best of three 6th place decider. North America's season started with Cloud9 defeating Team Liquid and ended with Immortals defeating Echo Fox. In the finals, Cloud9 defeated SK Gaming 2–1 to become the ESL Pro League Season 4 Champions and take home $200,000 prize money; this upset would also mark the first time a North American won an international premier event since iBUYPOWER won ESEA Season 16 - Global Invite Division in 2014.^[4]

ESL Pro League

2016
Tournament information
Sport	Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Location	São Paulo, Brazil
Dates	August 17, 2016–October 30, 2016
Administrator	Electronic Sports League (ESL)
Teams	28 teams
Purse	US$750,000
Final positions
Champions	Cloud9
1st runners-up	SK Gaming
2nd runners-up	mousesports Ninjas in Pyjamas
MVP	Timothy "autimatic" Ta [1]
← Season 3 Season 5 →

Format

The format was slightly different to the previous renditions of the tournament.

Each continent featured the top 11 teams from ESL Pro League Season 3, one team from the ESEA Season 21: Premier Division Qualifier, one team from the ESL Pro League Season 3 Relegation, and one team from the Wild Card Qualifier. Teams within each continent played each other twice to determine the top four qualifiers to the Finals in Brazil. There was a total of nine weeks in this phase of the tournament. All games were played online.

Teams that placed seventh to eleventh are automatically invited to next season's ESL Pro League. 12th and 13th place are invited to Season 4's Relegation and 14th place will be placed in the ESEA Premier Season 24.

The Finals consisted of twelve teams, six from Europe and six from North America. These teams were separated into two groups. The group stage consisted of every team in each group playing against each other. The top three teams in each group moved on to the Playoffs. The knockout stages were a best of three format. All games in the Finals were played offline. The top team in each group received a bye and automatically moved onto the Semifinals. The other four teams played in the Round of Six. The winners of those two games moved on to the Semifinals, and the winner of the Semifinals moved onto the Finals.

Teams

North America SK Gaming (Season 3 #1) Cloud9 (Season 3 Top #2) OpTic Gaming (Season 3 #3) Team Liquid (Season 3 #4) NRG eSports (Season 3 Top #5) Selfless Gaming (Season 3 #6) Renegades (Season 3 #7) Winterfox (Season 3 #8) Splyce (Season 3 #9) Counter Logic Gaming (Season 3 #10) compLexity Gaming (Season 3 #11) Immortals (ESEA Premier Season 21) eUnited (Season 3 Relegation) Echo Fox (Wild Card)

Europe Ninjas in Pyjamas (Season 3 #1) Astralis (Season 3 #2) Fnatic (Season 3 #3) G2 Esports (Season 3 #4) Natus Vincere (Season 3 #5) Team Dignitas (Season 3 #6) FaZe Clan (Season 3 #7) mousesports (Season 3 #8) Team EnVyUs (Season 3 #9) Heroic (Season 3 #10) Flipsid3 Tactics (Season 3 #11) HellRaisers (ESEA Premier Season 21) PENTA Sports (Season 3 Relegation) Virtus.pro (Wild Card)

North America

Broadcast Talent

Host

• Tom "Tsquared" Taylor

Commentators

• Sam "DaZeD" Marine
• John "BLU" Mullen
• Jason "moses" O'Toole

Analysts

• Steve "Ryu" Rattacasa
• Erik "da_bears" Stromberg

Observers

• Heather "sapphiRe" Garozzo
• DJ "Prius" Kuntz

Standings

The final standings are shown below. Each team's in-game leader is shown first. The rosters that are shown are the rosters that were in place by the end of the season. For instance, Skyler "Relyks" Weaver left eUnited in the middle of the season and was replaced with Jacob "kaboose" McDonald. Thus, kaboose's name is shown below and Relyks's name is not shown.

North America Final Standings
Place	Prize Money	Team	W-L	RF-RA	RD	Pts	Roster
1st	TBD	Cloud9	25-1	383-225	+158	75	Stewie2k, autimatic, n0thing, Skadoodle, shroud
2nd	TBD	Immortals	20-6	385-234	+151	60	zews, boltz, felps, HEN1, LUCAS1
3rd	TBD	SK Gaming	18-8	341-225	+116	54	FalleN, coldzera, fer, fnx, TACO
4th	TBD	OpTic Gaming	17-9	376-306	+70	51	stanislaw, NAF, tarik, RUSH, mixwell
5th	US$18,000	Renegades	17-9	371-271	+100	51	AZR, jks, Yam, USTILO, Rickeh
6th	TBD	NRG Esports	17-9	344-278	+76	51	gob b, LEGIJA, tabseN, FugLy, ptr
7th	TBD	Team Liquid	15-11	370-318	+52	45	Hiko, EliGE, jdm64, nitr0, Pimp
8th	US$15,500	Echo Fox	13-13	337-353	-16	39	sgares, fREAKAZOiD, roca, ryx, ShahZam
9th	US$13,000	Counter Logic Gaming	10-16	288-377	-89	30	reltuC, hazed, koosta, nahtE, Subroza
10th	US$10,500	Winterfox	9-17	273-364	-93	27	emagine, apoc, dexter, ofnu, zewsy
11th	US$8,000	compLexity Gaming	9-17	269-377	-108	27	Uber, androidx23, APE, dephh, Surreal
12th	US$5,500	Selfless Gaming	7-19	302-387	-85	21	Nifty, Brehze, kaboose, mitch, no_one
13th	US$3,000	Splyce	3-23	240-402	-162	9	arya, AcillioN, CRUC1AL, DAVEY, Machinegun
14th	US$1,500	eUnited	2-24	239-409	-170	6	shinobi, a2z, cJ, Marved, vice

Results
	SK	C9	OpTic	Liquid	NRG	SLF	RNG	WFX	SPY	CLG	coL	IMT	eU	FOX
SK		FF-W FF-W	16-8 19-15	10-16 13-16	16-14 16-7	16-9 16-7	12-16 0-16	W-FF W-FF	16-10 16-6	16-7 16-4	16-7 16-1	11-16 4-16	16-8 16-3	16-12 16-11
C9	W-FF W-FF		16-3 16-12	16-8 16-10	16-5 16-10	16-12 16-12	16-12 19-16	16-11 16-7	16-13 16-2	16-11 16-10	16-9 16-5	16-5 16-14	16-6 16-8	12-16 16-8
OpTic	8-16 15-19	3-16 12-16		3-16 20-22	16-10 12-16	16-13 22-20	16-13 12-16	16-8 16-6	16-8 16-9	16-9 16-5	16-4 16-6	13-16 16-12	16-2 16-12	16-5 16-11
Liquid	16-10 16-13	8-16 10-16	16-3 22-20		14-16 7-16	13-16 16-6	10-16 12-16	16-14 16-11	16-8 16-6	16-5 12-16	16-11 16-7	16-12 12-16	16-2 16-11	10-16 16-19
NRG	14-16 7-16	5-16 10-16	10-16 16-12	16-14 16-7		16-5 16-5	9-16 16-10	16-5 16-5	16-4 16-8	14-16 16-9	16-10 16-4	6-16 7-16	16-8 16-8	16-11 16-9
SLF	9-16 7-16	12-16 12-16	13-16 20-22	13-16 6-16	5-16 5-16		13-16 10-16	16-13 16-19	16-13 16-14	15-19 16-5	9-16 16-7	1-16 8-16	12-16 16-6	13-16 14-16
RNG	16-12 16-0	12-16 16-19	13-16 16-12	16-10 16-12	16-9 10-16	16-3 16-10		16-3 16-8	16-6 16-3	16-2 9-16	10-16 16-8	2-16 13-16	16-5 16-13	16-8 14-16
WFX	FF-W FF-W	11-16 7-16	8-16 6-16	14-16 11-16	5-16 5-16	13-16 19-16	3-16 8-16		16-13 16-7	16-11 16-13	16-1 14-16	7-16 1-16	16-12 16-11	11-16 16-8
SPY	10-16 6-16	13-16 2-16	8-16 9-16	8-16 6-16	4-16 8-16	13-16 14-16	6-16 3-16	13-16 7-16		9-16 15-19	16-14 11-16	7-16 4-16	16-14 16-3	10-16 6-16
CLG	7-16 4-16	11-16 10-16	9-16 5-16	5-16 16-12	16-14 9-16	19-15 5-16	2-16 16-9	11-16 13-16	16-9 19-15		16-9 8-16	8-16 3-16	16-10 16-14	16-14 12-16
coL	7-16 1-16	9-16 5-16	4-16 6-16	11-16 7-16	10-16 4-16	16-9 7-16	16-10 8-16	11-16 16-14	14-16 16-11	9-16 16-8		7-16 16-12	16-11 19-15	9-16 19-15
IMT	16-11 16-4	5-16 14-16	16-13 12-16	12-16 16-12	16-6 16-7	16-1 16-8	16-2 16-13	16-7 16-1	16-7 16-4	16-8 16-3	16-7 12-16		16-10 10-16	16-10 16-4
eU	8-16 3-16	6-16 8-16	2-16 12-16	2-16 11-16	8-16 8-16	16-12 6-16	5-16 13-16	12-16 11-16	14-16 3-16	10-16 14-16	11-16 15-19	10-16 16-10		7-16 8-16
FOX	12-16 11-16	12-16 8-16	5-16 11-16	16-10 19-16	11-16 9-16	16-13 16-14	8-16 16-14	16-11 8-16	16-10 16-6	14-16 16-12	16-9 15-19	10-16 4-16	16-7 16-8

North America Results

Europe

Broadcast Talent

Host

• Alex "Machine" Richardson

Commentators

• Henry "HenryG" Greer
• Mitch "Uber" Leslie
• Lauren "Pansy" Scott
• Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett

Analyst

• Janko "YNk" Paunović

Observers

• Alex "Rushly" Rush

Standings

The final standings are shown below. Each team's in-game leader is shown first. The rosters shown reflect the rosters as they were by the end of the season. For instance, Timothée "DEVIL" Démolon was replaced with Christophe "SIXER" Xia on Team EnVyUS midway through the season. Therefore, SIXER's name is shown instead of DEVIL's.

Europe Final Standings
Place	Prize Money	Team	W-L	RF-RA	RD	Pts	Roster
1st	–	Fnatic	19-7	401-322	+79	57	wenton, olofmeister, twist, dennis, Lekr0
2nd	–	Ninjas in Pyjamas	19-7	387-282	+105	57	Xizt, f0rest, friberg, GeT RiGhT, disco doplan
3rd	–	mousesports	18-8	381-304	+77	54	denis, Spiidi, chrisJ, IoWel, NiKo
4th	–	FaZe Clan	18-8	378-350	+28	54	karrigan1, allu, aizy, jkaem, rain
5th	–	Team EnVyUs	16-10	337-301	+36	48	Happy, apEX, kennyS, NBK-, SIXER
6th	–	Team Dignitas	14-12	359-327	+32	42	MSL, cajunb, k0nfig, Magiskb0Y, RUBINO
7th	US$18,000	Virtus.pro	14-12	334-339	-5	42	NEO, byali, pashaBiceps, Snax, TaZ
8th	US$15,500	Natus Vincere	13-13	330-344	-14	39	seized, Edward, flamie, s1mple, GuardiaN
9th	US$13,000	G2 Esports	13-13	354-346	+8	39	shox, bodyy, Rpk, SmithZz, ScreaM
10th	US$10,500	Astralis	12-14	353-335	+18	36	karrigan1, dev1ce, dupreeh, Kjaerbye, Xyp9x
11th	US$8,000	Hellraisers	9-16	321-352	-31	27	ANGE1, bondik, Deadfox, STYKO, Zero
12th	US$5,500	Heroic	8-18	316-375	-59	24	Snappi, Friis, gla1ve, valde, MODDII
13th	US$3,000	PENTA Sports	5-21	291-410	-119	15	kRTSYAL, tahsiN, stfN, mikeS, weber
14th	US$1,500	FlipSid3 Tactics	4-22	226-378	-152	12	Blad3, electronic, markeloff, WorldEdit, waylander

Results
	NiP	Astralis	Fnatic	G2	Na'Vi	dig	FaZe	mouz	nV	Heroic	F3	HR	PENTA	VP
NiP		16-14 7-16	14-16 9-16	16-10 16-5	8-16 16-11	16-8 10-16	16-3 16-12	16-13 16-5	15-19 16-6	16-14 16-8	16-1 16-7	19-16 16-11	16-7 16-5	16-8 17-19
Astralis	14-16 16-7		13-16 19-17	4-16 14-16	7-16 6-16	16-10 16-6	16-19 16-11	10-16 2-16	14-16 16-3	13-16 13-16	6-16 16-12	16-13 16-8	14-16 16-5	14-16 14-16
Fnatic	16-14 16-9	16-13 17-19		13-16 16-8	16-3 16-6	11-16 9-16	9-16 22-18	16-12 16-14	14-16 16-8	16-14 16-12	16-2 16-9	19-17 15-19	16-11 16-12	16-14 16-8
G2	10-16 5-16	16-4 16-14	16-13 8-16		12-16 11-16	16-13 14-16	12-16 12-16	11-16 16-6	14-16 6-16	19-16 12-16	16-12 16-6	16-5 16-9	16-11 16-14	16-19 16-12
Na'Vi	16-8 11-16	16-7 16-6	3-16 6-16	16-12 16-11		8-16 14-16	23-25 15-19	16-8 13-16	17-19 16-10	4-16 16-7	16-12 16-7	7-16 5-16	19-17 16-7	3-16 16-9
dig	8-16 16-10	10-16 6-16	16-11 16-9	13-16 16-14	16-8 16-4		4-16 17-19	14-16 14-16	12-16 9-16	16-3 16-12	16-5 16-9	18-22 19-17	16-10 16-7	7-16 16-7
FaZe	3-16 12-16	19-16 11-16	16-9 18-22	16-12 16-12	25-23 19-15	16-4 19-17		6-16 3-16	6-16 16-10	16-13 16-5	16-14 7-16	16-14 16-11	22-18 16-10	16-8 16-5
mouz	13-16 5-16	10-16 16-2	12-16 14-16	16-11 6-16	8-16 16-13	16-14 16-14	16-6 16-3		16-9 16-9	16-14 16-4	16-4 16-9	16-8 16-12	16-11 16-13	16-8 25-28
nV	19-15 6-16	16-14 3-16	16-14 8-16	16-14 16-6	19-17 10-16	16-12 16-9	16-6 10-16	9-16 9-16		16-7 10-16	16-4 16-5	16-9 16-10	16-10 16-5	FF-W2 10-16
Heroic	14-16 8-16	16-13 16-13	14-16 12-16	16-19 16-12	16-4 16-7	3-16 12-16	13-16 5-16	14-16 4-16	7-16 16-10		7-16 16-9	14-16 16-6	16-19 16-14	12-16 10-16
F3	1-16 7-16	6-16 12-16	2-16 9-16	12-16 6-16	12-16 7-16	5-16 9-16	14-16 16-7	4-16 9-16	4-16 5-16	16-7 9-16		7-16 3-16	14-16 16-7	16-5 5-16
HR	16-19 11-16	13-16 8-16	17-19 19-15	5-16 9-16	16-7 16-5	22-18 17-19	14-16 11-16	8-16 12-16	9-16 10-16	16-14 6-16	16-7 16-3		11-16 16-7	16-14 7-16
PENTA	7-16 5-16	16-14 5-16	11-16 12-16	11-16 14-16	17-19 7-16	10-16 7-16	18-22 10-16	11-16 13-16	10-16 5-16	19-16 14-16	16-14 7-16	16-11 7-16		7-16 16-7
VP	8-16 19-17	16-14 16-14	14-16 8-16	19-16 12-16	16-3 9-16	16-7 7-16	8-16 5-16	8-16 28-25	W-FF1 16-10	16-12 16-10	5-16 16-5	14-16 16-7	16-7 10-16

Team Dignitas vs. Virtus.pro Tie-breaker
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Team Dignitas	16	Nuke	5	Virtus.pro
Team Dignitas	16	Cobblestone	12	Virtus.pro
Team Dignitas	–	Mirage	–	Virtus.pro

Europe Results

¹Finn "karrigan" Andersen was on the Astralis until the end of the regular season. However, FaZe Clan acquired the Danish in-game leader before the São Paulo Finals. Since Astralis did not qualify for the Finals and FaZe did, karrigan's name is shown in both Astralis's and FaZe's rosters.

²Team EnVyUs was forced to forfeit its first map to Virtus.pro as two of its players could not log on to their accounts. The second map was played as normal.

Finals

The finalized teams are shown below. Each team's world ranking for October 24, 2016 is also shown.

North America Cloud9 (7) Immortals (13) SK Gaming (3) OpTic Gaming (11) NRG Esports (25) Team Liquid (8)	Europe Fnatic (9) Ninjas in Pyjamas (6) mousesports (14) FaZe Clan (15) Team EnVyUs (10) Team Dignitas (2)

Broadcast Talent

Host

• Beatriz "Bia" Bauer

Desk Host

• Alex "Machine" Richardson

Commentators

• Henry "HenryG" Greer
• John "BLU" Mullen
• Jason "moses" O'Toole
• Matthew "Sadokist" Trivett

Analysts

• Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill
• Janko "YNk" Paunović
• Luis "peacemaker" Tadeu

Observers

• Heather "sapphiRe" Garozzo
• Davis DJ "Prius" Kuntz
• Alex "Rushly" Rush

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team	W	L	RF	RA	RD
1	mousesports	3	1	62	47	+15
2	Team EnVyUs	3	1	57	30	+27
3	OpTic Gaming	2	2	47	38	+9
4	Team Liquid1	1	3	34	62	-28
5	Immortals	1	3	41	60	-19
6	Fnatic2	0	0	0	0	0

Group A matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
OpTic Gaming	16	Train	2	Team Liquid
Immortals	5	Cobblestone	16	Team EnVyUs
mousesports	16	Mirage	12	Team Liquid
Immortals	4	Cobblestone	16	OpTic Gaming
Team EnVyUs	16	Dust II	4	Team Liquid
mousesports	16	Cache	10	OpTic Gaming
Immortals	16	Mirage	14	mousesports
OpTic Gaming	5	Cobblestone	16	Team EnVyUs
Immortals	14	Mirage	16	Team Liquid
mousesports	16	Cache	9	Team EnVyUs

¹Team Liquid takes Renegades's spot in the EPL Finals due to Renegades opting out of the trip to Brazil and instead headed to play in the ELEAGUE Major 2017 Asia Minor in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

² Fnatic withdraw from the tournament due to personal problems^[5]

Group B

Pos	Team	W	L	RF	RA	RD
1	SK Gaming	4	1	74	35	+41
2	Cloud9	4	1	54	48	+6
3	Ninjas in Pyjamas	3	2	71	63	+8
4	FaZe Clan	2	3	61	75	-14
5	Team Dignitas	2	3	46	49	-3
6	NRG Esports	0	5	56	86	-30

Group B matches
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Cloud9	16	Dust II	14	FaZe Clan
NRG Esports	3	Mirage	16	Team Dignitas
Ninjas in Pyjamas	16	Cobblestone	10	SK Gaming
Cloud9	16	Cache	9	NRG Esports
Ninjas in Pyjamas	14	Nuke	16	Team Dignitas
SK Gaming	16	Overpass	2	FaZe Clan
Ninjas in Pyjamas	16	Cache	14	NRG Esports
FaZe Clan	16	Mirage	7	Team Dignitas
Cloud9	6	Dust II	16	SK Gaming
FaZe Clan	22	Dust II	20	NRG Esports
SK Gaming	16	Cobblestone	7	Team Dignitas
Cloud9	16	Dust II	9	Ninjas in Pyjamas
SK Gaming	16	Cobblestone	10	NRG Esports
Cloud9	16	Mirage	13	Team Dignitas
Ninjas in Pyjamas	16	Overpass	7	FaZe Clan

Playoffs

Bracket

	Round of 6					Semifinals					Finals
						mousesports		0
	Cloud9		2			Cloud9		2
	OpTic Gaming		0								Cloud9		2
											SK Gaming		1
						SK Gaming		2
	Team EnVyUs		0			Ninjas in Pyjamas		1
	Ninjas in Pyjamas		2

Round of 6 Scores

Round of 6
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Cloud9	16	Dust II	12	OpTic Gaming
Cloud9	16	Cobblestone	2	OpTic Gaming
Cloud9	–	Overpass	–	OpTic Gaming
Team EnVyUs	9	Nuke	16	Ninjas in Pyjamas
Team EnVyUs	17	Dust II	19	Ninjas in Pyjamas
Team EnVyUs	–	Nuke	–	Ninjas in Pyjamas

Semifinals Scores

Semifinals
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
mousesports	9	Cobblestone	16	Cloud9
mousesports	10	Mirage	16	Cloud9
mousesports	–	Dust II	–	Cloud9
SK Gaming	10	Nuke	16	Ninjas in Pyjamas
SK Gaming	16	Overpass	7	Ninjas in Pyjamas
SK Gaming	16	Cobblestone	10	Ninjas in Pyjamas

Finals Scores

Finals
Team	Score	Map	Score	Team
Cloud9	17	Overpass	19	SK Gaming
Cloud9	16	Mirage	6	SK Gaming
Cloud9	16	Dust II	5	SK Gaming

Finals standings

Final Standings
Place	Prize Money	Team
1st	US$200,000	Cloud9
2nd	US$90,000	SK Gaming
3rd – 4th	US$45,000	mousesports
		Ninjas in Pyjamas
5th – 6th	US$35,000	OpTic Gaming
		Team EnVyUs
7th – 8th	US$30,000	Team Liquid
		FaZe Clan
9th – 10th	US$25,000	Immortals
		Team Dignitas
11th – 12th	US$20,000	Fnatic
		NRG Esports

References

1. "Video: Autimatic - MVP of PL S4 Finals".
2. http://en.pro.eslgaming.com/csgo/proleague/news/the-us-750k-esl-csgo-pro-league-season-4-finals-are-coming-to-brazil/
3. ESL. "ESL CS:GO Pro League". en.pro.eslgaming.com. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
4. ESL. "ESL CS:GO Pro League". en.pro.eslgaming.com. Archived from the original on 2016-11-30. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
5. Beck, Kellen (October 25, 2016). "Fnatic changes up 'CS:GO' roster (again) and withdraws from ESL Pro League". Mashable.