The fourth round of matches in ESL Pro League Season 11’s Group B determined that Fnatic will enter the final day of play with the best odds to win the group.
Natus Vincere slowly climbing the ranks
Two of the most legendary CS:GO organizations’ ESL Pro League Season 11 fates are closely entwined. Fnatic and Natus Vincere’s victories yesterday mean that both teams have it all to play for in the final round of games.
Fnatic recorded their third straight victory in the group by taking down forZe 2-1. The CIS team has been a pleasant surprise this season and battled the Swedes till the very end but their efforts were merely rewarded with an honorable defeat.
Natus Vincere were involved in a do or die clash with Complexity Gaming where the loser would be practically eliminated from the tournament. Na’Vi, or at least part of the roster, showed up when it mattered. Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, Denis “electronic” Sharipov and Kirill “BoombI4” Mikhailov carried the load with 60+ kills each in the 2-1 win. No other person on the server reached the milestone and the remaining members of Na’Vi put up less than 40 each.
The third game of the day did not go to a third map but that doesn’t mean it was void of drama. Vertigo went to double overtime before North could finally call themselves the match-winner vs. BIG Clan.
The current standings and who could do what on the final day
Before we get to explain everyone’s position ahead of the final games, let’s see what the standings look like right now and the fixtures that remain to be played.
Group A
- Ninjas in Pyjamas – 3-1
- Astralis – 3-1
- Team Vitality – 3-1
- Team Spirit – 2-2
- GODSENT – 1-3
- ENCE Esports – 0-4
- Ninjas in Pyjamas – ENCE Esports
- Astralis – Team Vitality
- Team Spirit – GODSENT
Group B
- Fnatic – 3-1
- forZe – 2-2
- BIG Clan – 2-2
- North – 2-2
- Natus Vincere – 2-2
- Complexity Gaming – 1-3
- Fnatic – Natus Vincere
- forZe – BIG Clan
- North – Complexity Gaming
Group A’s top three is pretty much decide upon. Spirit have an off-chance of upstaging Vitality but the round differential between the teams means that the only outcome that could work for the Russians is a massive win for them and an equally huge defeat for Vitality.
NiP should remain where they are if we stick to logic. ENCE have been awful all week long and unless they pick the wrong (for the Swedes) time to wake up, the Ninjas will be the winners of this group.
All the knots are left for Group B. In theory, Complexity could still qualify and Fnatic could not. Going through every possible scenario would take us a whole day, so I’ll stick to the most probable.
A Fnatic win would guarantee the Swedes the group win and would eliminate Na’Vi. The Katowice champs will need some additional help even if they do win that match, however, as their round differential is much worse than that of the teams above them. The most vital part of the Na’Vi plan is for North to lose to Complexity, otherwise s1mple and co. would almost certainly end up outside the top three.
In any case we’re up for an exciting evening of Counter-Strike. Here’s a refresher on ESL Pro League Season 11 in case you haven’t been paying attention.
