ESL Pro League Season 18 has finally come to an end with MOUZ atop the CS:GO world. This roster featuring Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek, Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás, and Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo has brought the organization its first S-tier trophy since ESL Pro League Season 10 in December of 2019. It was not an easy road to get there though, this young MOUZ team had to take down giants of Counter-Strike like FaZe Clan, G2 Esports, and Natus Vincere to take EPL Season 18. This win has also qualified them for IEM Katowice 2024 which began on January 31st, 2024.
The Biggest Surprises and Disappointments from the Playoffs
The tournament itself was full of surprises with impressive showings from Eternal Fire and Monte. Both teams came through the round of 16 before eventually going down to NaVi in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. Eternal Fire is a team with a lot of excitement behind it when it was first formed. The Turkish organization united two of the country's best players in Özgür “woxic” Eker and İsmailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş but the team has not had much success throughout 2023. Hopefully, their placing in EPL Season 18 is a sign of continued improvement for the team.
The same could be said for Monte, a team in the CIS region that has come through the B-tier circuit to put up surprisingly good results at both the Blast Paris Major and IEM Cologne 2023. Their 3-4th placement at EPL Season 18 is their best at an S-tier tournament so far. After beating the defending major champions in Vitality, could this be an omen for future success to come?
For every surprise success though, there must be disappointment. For these playoffs, that would come from teams like Furia, Virtus.pro, and FaZe Clan. So far, the FalleN experiment in Furia seems to be off to a slow start. After stagnation in the team's recent results, a roster shift was a necessary move to make, but it remains to be seen if the legendary AWPer/IGL was the best move for Furia. There is also a lot to prove for Virtus.pr0, after their awesome victory at the IEM Rio Major last year the team has not had much else to show. With another disappointing exit, it may be time for some change if VP wants to remain relevant in the CS2 era. Finally, we come to FaZe Clan, there is some solace to be had that the team lost to the eventual champions but another early exit has the team quickly falling out of contention. After their Grand Slam win at the last ESL Pro League, the super team has had very little success. Again, time will tell if CS2 will be able to revitalize this legendary roster.
MOUZ Win ESL Pro League Season 18
With this victory, MOUZ will take home $200,000, immediate qualification to IEM Katowice 2024, and their first win on the ESL Pro Tour putting them in the running for an Intel Grand Slam with 9 chances remaining to win it. Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo was awarded the DHL MVP being one of the youngest to win it at only 17 years of age, meanwhile, Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás took home his HLTV MVP medal. This is an incredibly impressive win for a team that has had four of its players and its coach come from MOUZ's academy team, MOUZ NXT. With an average age of only 20 for its whole roster, there is still a lot of room for growth in these players and that is a scary sign if they can capitalize on their recent success.
The End for CS:GO
The Counter-Strike player base and community has already had to say goodbye to CS:GO and now that EPL Season 17 has come to an end, the pros will have to say goodbye as well. The ESL Faceit Group has already announced that they will be transitioning everything, ongoing and upcoming, to Counter-Strike 2. This includes ESL Challenger League Season 46 as well as IEM Sydney 2023 on October 16, 2023. That being said, this is officially it for CS:GO. What an incredible eleven years, and cheers to more world-class Counter-Strike in CS2.
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