A new year means a new season of ESEA Premier. But this is no ordinary season. Not only do we have 4 new teams joining from Advanced, there are big changes to the format and broadcast, not to mention the promotion process to ESL Pro League, to consider first.
Big Changes
The biggest change announced by ESEA earlier this month is that the amount of promotion spots for ESL Pro League has essentially doubled. Premier will now fit four seasons into a calendar year (up from three), with the removal of “training seasons” meaning that each year four teams will be promoted to join ESL Pro League, two per season, starting with Pro League Season 14 in September. A huge change that adds to the stakes surrounding this season, but also great news for orgs who benefit from the exposure Pro League brings.
The broadcast has also changed, as Premier will now be broadcast on the main ESL Twitch channel — essentially leveraging the built-in audience for top-tier Counter-Strike. There are also promises of a more consistent schedule, to avoid the situation in past seasons where teams played the vast majority of their fixtures in the final weeks of the season — both bad for their performances and for fans trying to follow along. Matches will be on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will also feature an improved broadcast — including a studio setup for play-offs, COVID permitting.
The last change is a change to the format itself. Gone is the massive 18-team round-robin, and in its place two 9-team round-robin groups, similar to the Pro League format. Teams will play each other in a series of best of 3 matches to decide their placings. The bottom teams in each group will be relegated to Advanced, the next two teams will be sent to the Relegation play-off, and the top 8 teams from the group stage will advance to the end of season play-offs where the winner will take the lion’s share of the prize pool and qualify for ESL Pro League.
Oh, and they’ve dropped the MDL title sponsorship, so we’re back to “ESEA Premier”.
What happened in Relegation?
This season’s Relegation play-off was pretty dramatic. Only one team who played in season 35 survived to fight again, with two teams joining through the Climber Cup (for national champions) and the hot favourites from Advanced eliminated.
Sangal surprised some by winning Advanced play-offs, having finished 14th in league play. But unleashed by the best of 3 format they went unbeaten and took down Movistar Riders twice in a row — without dropping a single map. Great to see a Turkish line-up back in ESEA Premier.
FATE and Winstrike were the first to secure their places in season 36. Both teams did so reasonably comfortably, making it without dropping a map: FATE conquered Illuminar and 9INE, while Winstrike beat Vexed and Singularity (whilst taking advantage of AVEZ’s dissolution) to secure two of the season 36 spots.
That meant the lower bracket was full of strong teams with only two spots available. Movistar Riders were a surprise exit for the second season in a row, having finished 2nd in the Advanced play-offs, but failed to secure even a map here, being swept by Turkish side 9INE and then French champions LDLC, their only win coming from a forfeit by the defunct AVEZ.
LDLC had initially missed out on a spot in Relegation, losing twice in the Advanced play-offs, but got a reprieve through the Climber Cup having won the Championnat National. They beat Budapest Five and avenged themselves on Lyngby Vikings despite falling into the lower bracket, beating Movistar Riders and 9INE to secure qualification for season 36.
Illuminar also secured their spot through Climber Cup, having won the Mistrzostwa Polski last season. A loss to FATE did not deter them as they beat both the remaining teams from season 35, Nordavind and Singularity, without dropping a map to take the final spot in season 36. However, as we’ll get into later, they won’t be taking to the server…
Individual Team Previews
A couple of things to note since season 35. Endpoint secured qualification to ESL Pro League 13 by winning and so do not participate here. In their place, x-kom AGO, who played in ESL Pro League 12, return to the league. The Team Secret roster, who finished 4th in league play last season but struggled in the play-offs, have also disbanded following their release by the org. I expect them to forfeit, which leaves group A with only 8 teams in.
The off-season has seen a large number of roster moves, as 12-month contracts come to an end and players seek new pastures, or teams refresh their line-ups. To give you some idea, all 4 teams promoted through Relegation have made at least 2 changes, and 5 teams have kept only two players from last season.
I will go through each individual team, any changes they’ve made, and where I think they will end up come the end of the season from the following options:
- Top 4 (will mount a serious challenge for Pro League qualification)
- Play-offs (will make it out of groups but not go all the way)
- Mid-table (will avoid relegation but not make play-offs)
- Relegation (either relegated directly to Advanced or will end up in the Relegation play-offs)
Author’s note: at time of publication, there remains a possibility that Apeks may take Japaleno/Galaxy Racer’s slot outright, and the same may apply to AGF taking Team Secret’s slot. If so this article will be updated to reflect that. However, I don’t expect either move to drastically affect my predictions.
Group A
Group A, due to Secret’s disbanding, has only 8 teams. But it features teams who fell just short last time, two teams with multiple roster changes, and some ambitious contenders from Advanced:
sAw
Last season: 3rd (3rd in league play)
sAw’s meteoric rise shows no signs of stopping. As the season starts, the stadodo-led Portuguese lineup sit in the HLTV top 25, having made the final of Dreamhack Open December and finishing 3rd in their inaugural season in ESEA Premier — a season they very much could have won but for some lost rounds against Endpoint and Sprout. It would take bravery — or perhaps foolishness — to bet against them making Pro League in 2021.
Prediction: Top 4
Wisla Krakow
Last season: 4th (7th in league play)
Wisla Krakow had a great ending to 2020, taking a surprise victory in Nine to Five 6 (surviving match points against Sprout and MAD Lions) and 4th in the season 35 play-offs. Unfortunately mynio, one of their strongest performers from last season, has joined Anonymo Esports — disrupting their plans just before the season starts. A lot will depend on who that 5th is — the rumour is ex-Illuminar veteran phr — and how quickly they can bed him in. I don’t expect a return to last season’s heroics but they shouldn’t get relegated, and given the other sides in the group, I reckon they could well make play-offs again.
Prediction: Play-offs
HellRaisers
Last season: 5th-6th (1st in league play)
HellRaisers stunned everyone by going 16–1 in last season’s league play. Unfortunately the best of 3 format was less kind to them as they only managed a single victory, against Team Secret. In that regard, the change of Premier from best of 1 to best of 3 will probably work against them. They’ve made a change, benching AWPer jR and testing out Israeli AWPer anarkez (who played last season with Team Secret). As with Wisla, no return to last season’s heroics but they should survive again, although that says more about the teams below them.
Prediction: Play-offs
forZe
Last season: 7th-8th (6th in league play)
CIS team forZe have a high ceiling but inconsistency continues to hold them back. They dallied with some roster changes after a disappointing season 35, but are back to their core five of FL1T, Jerry, xsepower, almazer and facecrack which saw them beat Cloud9 at Nine to Five 7 and reach the semi-finals of Dreamhack Open December. I think the best of 3 format will help them and I’m predicting them to challenge for the title this time around. If they don’t, heads will roll.
Prediction: top 4
Japaleno
Last season: 12th (as Galaxy Racer)
Swedish twins FREDDyFROG and Relaxa have competed in ESEA Premier since season 26, and finished last season in mid-table with Galaxy Racer, where victories over teams like Sprout were counterbalanced with disappointing defeats. They left Galaxy Racer following roster upheaval, but have held onto the ESEA Premier spot and teamed up with dennis and Grus from Apeks, as well as perennial stand-in kreaz, to create a Swedish roster under the Apeks banner, the Norwegian organisation using a cynical interpretation of the rule around team slots to take over Galaxy Racer’s slot in the league. (In case it isn’t clear, I’m not a fan.) Putting aside my personal feelings, the line-up is good enough to do well — but it is going to have to come together on short notice, and I think the other teams may end up too strong.
Prediction: Relegation
Team GamerLegion
Last season: 13th
GamerLegion’s international lineup have survived for two seasons in a row by the narrowest of margins — head to head record keeping them afloat in both season 34 and 35. Last season they produced an alarming statistic: they only managed a single victory after mezii departed for Cloud9. However, with his replacement dobbo now fully integrated into the side, this time I’m backing them to stay up more comfortably — and maybe even sneak into the play-offs.
Prediction: Mid-table
FATE
Last season: 14th
Three members of FATE departed the organisation after they ended up in Relegation, and while they returned to secure FATE’s place in season 36, only veterans niki1 and Patrick remain. They are complemented by Patrick’s former teammate Rock1ng and youngsters milky and shaiK. While I appreciate FATE’s efforts to bed in younger talent, as well as Patrick and Rock1ng’s reunion, this roster can’t even claim to be the best Bulgarian team (both SKADE and MBAPPEEK could make a case for that title) and I expect them to struggle.
Prediction: Relegation
Winstrike
Last season: 3rd in Advanced
Winstrike have parted ways with bondik and krizzen for health reasons and in their place signed the Russian duo of Krad and Forester, who were part of the Hard Legion lineup who looked good for most of 2020*. They struggled to find their way a little bit after Hobbit left them for Gambit in July but now they are in Premier they ought to make good on their promise to push towards top 30. Certainly good enough to survive, probably good enough for play-offs.
Prediction: Play-offs
*Krad and Forester played under zoneR/Mechanogun, the Hard Legion coach implicated heavily in the coaching bug scandal and banned for 48 months by ESIC.
Group B
Group B is tougher than group A, with last season’s beaten finalists, a team of returners from Pro League, and three Polish sides all present:
Sprout
Last season: 2nd (2nd in league play)
Let’s say it: Sprout should be in ESL Pro League by now. They had two opportunities in 2020 after winning season 33 and reaching the final of season 35, but could not close either out. A new all-German lineup sees dycha and snatchie depart to be replaced by slaxz and kressy from Alternate ATTAX — and while I expected them to take some time to get going, they’ve started by winning domestic competition UNITED Pro Series unbeaten. They won two seasons of MDL last year — will this be the year they finally make Pro League? I certainly wouldn’t bet against it.
Prediction: top 4
AGO
Last season: n/a (ESL Pro League Season 12)
AGO were the big movers in the Great Polish Scene Reshuffle of 2021. Gruby, who had been with the organisation for 3 years, is gone, along with DGL who had been AWPing for them after mHL was benched. In their place snatchie returns from Sprout, with reatz and rallen joining F1KU, Furlan and leman to create ESEA Premier’s first six-man roster. While not the superteam many were expecting, I fully expect them to do some damage even in the stacked group B and they should make play-offs at the very least. If they make their six-man roster work it will also be interesting to see if others join them.
Prediction: Play-offs
Nexus Gaming
Last season: 5th-6th (8th in league play)
Romanian side Nexus sneaked into play-offs in 8th place after their great start tailed off somewhat towards the end of the season. In the play-offs they took down forZe but struggled against the higher-quality opposition. Despite being led by AWPer XELLOW, it’s hard to see them repeating that feat this time. They have a brutal group, and I think mid-table is about right for them — but after making play-offs in their debut season they should not be slept on.
Prediction: Mid-table
Nemiga
Last season: 9th
Nemiga missed out on play-offs last season, not helped by the fact that their schedule was heavily compressed to fit around their run to the final of IEM New York, as well as star player lollipop2k sustaining a wrist injury towards the season’s end. They will be looking to bounce back and should be a very serious title contender, having spent most of 2020 in the HLTV top 30. Anything else will be a huge disappointment for the Belarussian organisation.
Prediction: top 4
Alternate ATTAX
Last season: 10th
Alternate ATTAX are another team with a complete rebuild, losing slaxz and kressy to Sprout and mirbit leaving the team. In their place come former BIG Academy youngsters Krimbo and Panix and ex-GODSENT IGL KRYSTAL. That does currently leave them with two low-fragging ex-coaches in KRYSTAL and ScrunK, and I suspect until that is resolved they may struggle to be anything other than the third-best team in Germany. But with theirs being a long-term project, survival will be the first goal of season 36 — and that is doable.
Prediction: Relegation (but survive)
Actina PACT
Last season: 11th
PACT went from play-offs in season 34 to narrowly avoiding relegation in season 35. They’ve responded by dropping Goofy for ex-Illuminar and Virtus.Pro rifler Vegi — a talented young player who I think Illuminar may come to regret letting slip. They might end up in Relegation but that is more because of how strong the rest of their group is rather than how weak they are as a team, and I would back them to survive even if they did.
Prediction: Relegation (but survive)
Sangal
Last season: 1st in Advanced
When it came to Turkish lineups who might make Premier, my attention was focussed on 9INE, who spent most of 2020 the closest. But Sangal, with the help of the arrival of FPL player imoRR in August, took down a number of strong sides to win the Advanced play-offs and return the ex-Space Soldiers core of MAJ3R, paz and ngiN to CS:GO’s big leagues. With such a performance — and history — I’m backing them to go straight into play-offs.
Prediction: Play-offs
LDLC
Last season: 6th in Advanced
Speaking of names it’s nice to see at the top level again, LDLC return to ESEA Premier despite making a meal out of the Advanced play-offs. They’ve also been busy in the transfer market, with bodyy and afroo leaving the French marque and keoz (K23) and Maka (Heretics) joining in their place. But with better players available, it’s hard not to feel like this is an underwhelming squad, not helped by the strong group they find themselves in. Relegation I think — but not for good.
Prediction: Relegation
Anonymo Esports
Last season: n/a
Who? Well, Anonymo is a new Polish organisation led by Mateusz “Sówek” Kowalczyk (ex-AGO, Illuminar), and they’ve started with a hell of a lineup: Snax of Virtus.Pro and Mousesports fame, the “K twins” of KEI and Kylar who anchored AVEZ last season, mynio from Wisla Krakow and ex-Illuminar rifler mouz — which is why they inherit Illuminar’s spot for this season. (Another former Illuminar player, innocent, will play with them in other tournaments). I’m excited for this lineup — though I think this event might come a bit soon for them. Going to go with mid-table with a decent shout at play-offs, but they’ll need some good results over their fellow Poles to achieve that.
Prediction: Mid-table
What do you think? Anything you agree with? Anything I’ve got horrendously wrong? @ me on Twitter at Tom_Tom94.
