The group where we expected most surprises from, ended quite predictably, for the most part. There are teams that can make an unexpected exit into the playoffs from the last chance stage: 9z was ahead of both 5yclone and Imperial. And M80, on the contrary, turned out to be unprepared for the level of ESL Pro League 18 teams, despite an interesting lineup. Read Telecomasia.net's article about these and other statistical results of Group C in Malta.
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Contrary to our expectations about the decline of Natus Vincere, they turned out at the top of the overall rating. B1t, who a month ago could be blamed for losses as much as the slumping iM, surprised us the most. We can't listen to the teamspeak to assess the level of Valerij's English-speaking communication, so it's one of the two options: either the Ukrainian is really progressing in terms of language, or the partial change of playstyle has given freedom for individual play. Right now, b1t is in his prime form like he was 2 years ago after adapting at the top level.
While praising Natus Vincere, we must also mention jL: if their plus-rated series of games continues in the playoffs, the Lithuanian will start to be associated not only with the label of "the team's soul". Let's focus on mezii among other playoff heroes. Like tabseN, the Briton got rid of his captain's duties in the summer, helping the team exclusively as a standard riffler. You can't call it a one-time flash: mezii is progressing in ACM3 together with the growth of the entire fnatic team after the transfer window. The only sad thing for the team is that some pretty serious opponents (MOUZ, FURIA, Astralis) made it out of Groups A and B into the first round of the playoffs.
Entry-fragger rating
This is the first time in the three weeks of the tournament that we will try to focus on the players who did not make it to the final stage. Group C was full of talented entry-fraggers who statistically stood out from the rest of the roster: Mercury from 5yclone, felps from Imperial, and jkaem from Apeks. While the previous groups were mostly remembered as "support" groups, now we got at least three nicknames who earned a slot in the playoffs as entry-fraggers. As a live highlight, you may want to revisit the decisive Overpass between 5yclone and Imperial: it's rare to get to watch the talented Chinese natives (specifically Mercury's explosive play).
Among those who made it to the playoffs, rain is goint to give us more reasons for joy - he has revealed an interesting pattern. For example, at the tournaments where the Norwegian acts more aggressively than his captain in attack, FaZe manage to advance much further. Despite this, the constant shifting of the team's styles can happen even in the course of the tournament, so we should keep a closer eye on FaZe in the playoffs.
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Here's an interesting spoiler: after the release of CS2, the model of our ACM3 ranking will be updated again in the direction of strengths on individual maps. This way we'll be able to more accurately separate players into playstyles and award a fair rating to everyone. Why are we talking about this now? The example of Twistzz is just right, because teams with a distinct long-range support player (ropz in FaZe) sometimes have a more passive player who is not suited for the support role. The new rating will consider players like Twistzz as passive riflers, and in that kind of rating the Canadian will be consistently unrivaled. In the current realities Russell shows how you can stay in the shadow of an explosive player like rain and still show a refined game, only an attentive viewer can notice. HLTV website praised the "survivability" of the Canadian in both defense and attack, which does not prevent him from scoring effective points in KAST%. Twistzz is closest to KSCERATO playstyle among the known examples, so a possible face-to-face meeting between FaZe and FURIA will be especially interesting as the duel of the main shadow heroes of the current season.
Support Players rating
The Support Players Ranking is weak on both surprises and the lineup of names in Group C. So let's briefly focus on jL's KAST% statistic, which correlates perfectly with the K/D ratio. With active positional play, the Lithuanian maintains a balance between kills and deaths, while also setting an actual tournament record among the supports. Interestingly, the previous record was set by a player of a different position, although the percentage of useful rounds is most important to support riflers. Contrary to the first experience of the new squad, b1t did not become the sole support of the Born to Win, losing it to jL, who has experience since Apeks. Fans of the team can't help but be happy with the fact that unlike iM, the Lithuanian managed to keep the level of play stable at the top level since the Paris Majors.
Sniper rating
Speaking about NAVI at the beginning of the piece, we purposely postponed the moment of talking about s1mple. The time of experiments with switching Aleksandr to frequent play without AWP has come to an end: the game pattern became more strict, s1mple started to play more carefully with the rifle, and the player's ACM3 level has risen back to its former level. Watching s1mple is many times more enjoyable now not only in terms of nostalgia, but also in terms of the team's results. Even if the lineup is still questioned by experts, Kostyliev is back at his peak where we can overlook his teammates' shortcomings by looking at his highlights.
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It is hard to single out the second MVP of the group among the snipers: afro is the closest to claiming this title, but the Frenchman is not ready for a stable top level yet. Even being one of the leaders in the group, afro is weak individually during the tournament.
The last group before the playoffs at ESL Pro League 18 traditionally starts on Wednesday, September 20. Spectators and experts unanimously called the future eight "group of death" because of the composition of the participants: Cloud9, 9INE, Virtus.pro, G2 and the weakened Liquid will fight for places in the final stage. Follow the news of ESL Pro League 18 on our website!
