16 top Counter-Strike teams made their way to Odense, Denmark and the Odense Congress Center, with the top six playing in front of a rabid crowd ay the Jyske Bank Arena for the lion’s share of $600,000 and a crucial victory in season 3 of the Intel Grand Slam.
For fans of Counter-Strike, the calendar year may be coming to a close, but the IEM Grand Slam season rolls on. Supporters tuned in and turned out for the ESL Pro League finals in the heart of Denmark for one of the final premier CSGO events of the year.
After a month of round-robin group stage play, the ESL Pro League regular season sent eight European teams, six North American teams, one from Oceania, and one from Asia to duke it for the brand new ESL Pro League trophy.
Introducing the all new #ESLProLeague trophy to celebrate the 10th season 🏆https://t.co/nuNzLGaGvO pic.twitter.com/COlDvW3eeE
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) December 8, 2019
For a handful of teams that consider themselves top-tier, Odense was a rough outing. North’s chances of playing in front of a home crowd were squandered early, after a round 1 loss to Team Liquid and then a lower bracket loss to ATK. G2 Esports, MIBR, and FaZe Clan all found themselves gone early too, getting bounced in the second lower bracket round.
G2 and North were both sent home by ATK, a relatively unknown American/South African hybrid roster whose impressive play was a pleasant surprise to fans watching, until they met a buzzsaw in the surging mousesports.
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Mousesports’ were red hot in Odense, as Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen sought to lead his team to a title in front of his countrymen. After a group stage loss to Liquid, mous responded with four straight series wins to get to the grand finals. This included capping off a quarterfinals with a 16-0 rout against Evil Geniuses, and a semifinals victory over Astralis and the Danish crowd.
16-0 over EG.
Semifinals.Tomorrow.Astralis.#ReadyWillingAble #ESLProLeague pic.twitter.com/NDWURGUvZc
— MOUZ (@mousesports) December 6, 2019
They met Fnatic, who were on their own hot streak as well. After a round 1 bludgeoning at the hands of EG, Fnatic won five straight series to make the final.
mous and Fnatic traded rounds throughout Inferno, before mousesports finally pulled away in the final rounds to take the first game 16-11. Mousesports carried their momentum into Train, as they only allowed Fnatic to pick up one T-side round and took a two map lead 16-10. They wasted no time in putting the clamps on Fnatic and eliminating the notion of a comeback, taking Mirage 16-11 to claim the title.
YOUR #ESLPROLEAGUE SEASON 10 CHAMPIONS ARE @MOUSESPORTS 🏆 pic.twitter.com/hYQrB6SglF
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) December 8, 2019
ESL Pro League Season 10 Final Placements
Place | Prize Money | Team | Roster |
1st | $250,000 (and IEM Katowice 2020 spot) | Mousesports | chrisJ, ropz, karrigan, woxic, frozen |
2nd | $80,000 | Fnatic | Brollan, JW, KRIMZ, flusha, Golden |
3rd/4th | $40,000 | Natus Vincere | flamie, s1mple, electronic, Boombl4, GuardiaN |
3rd/4th | $40,000 | Astralis | Magisk, xyp9x, gla1ve, dupreeh, device |
5th/6th | $20,000 | Team Liquid | Stewie2k, EliGE, Twistzz, nitr0, NAF |
5th/6th | $20,000 | Evil Geniuses | Brehze, stanislaw, tarik, Ethan, CeRq |
7th/8th | $17,000 | 100 Thieves | AZR, jks, jkaem, Liazz, Gratisfaction |
7th/8th | $17,000 | ATK | JT, motm, oSee, floppy, Sonic |
9th-12th | $15,000 | FaZe Clan | rain, NiKo, olofmeister, coldzera, broky |
9th-12th | $15,000 | MIBR | FalleN, Taco, fer, Lucas1, kngV- |
9th-12th | $15,000 | G2 Esports | kennyS, JaCkz, AmaNEk, nexa, hunter- |
9th-12th | $15,000 | Renegades | dexter, DickStacy, malta, Sico, INS |
13th-16th | $14,000 | TYLOO | somebody, BnTeT, Summer, Attacker, Freeman |
13th-16th | $14,000 | Heroic | es3tag, stavn, b0RUP, Snappi, cadiaN |
13th-16th | $14,000 | Sharks Esports | exit, jnt, meyern, Luken, leo_drunky |
13th-16th | $14,000 | North | aizy, Kjaerbye, gade, JUGi, cajunb |