Forze secure final spot at ESL Pro League Season 17

ForZe have earned the final spot for the upcoming ESL Pro League Season 17 by defeating Endpoint 2-1 in the Lower Bracket Final of the European Conference division. This win grants the Russian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team a place in the highly-regarded league, along with Eternal Fire and SAW, as part of the teams confirmed for the event in Malta.

In other to earn a spot in the 32-team league, forZe were forced to win two best-of-three matches against Team Falcons and more recently, Endpoint. Their game against the Falcons ended in a clean sweep on Nuke (16-8) and Mirage (16-10), with Aleksandr “zorte” Zagodyrenko named the player of the match. This was necessitated as the team’s initial opportunity of making it to the Pro League was cut short by SAW in the European Conference Upper Bracket semifinal, whose victory got them a spot on the list.

The match between forZe and Endpoint was a closely contested one, with forZe recovering from a slow start on the Endpoint-chosen map, Ancient. Endpoint looked more composed and together as a unit as Guy “Nertz” Iluz put up an outstanding performance.

Ancient staged a comeback with Vladislav “Krad” Kravchenko leading the team on the offense. Nertz managed to keep his team in the running with a clutch 1v3 on the CT side, but the first half of the map ended with Andrey “Jerry” Mekhryakov and the lads in the lead 8-6.

In the second half, both teams traded blow for blow with Endpoint falling two rounds short of winning the map. The half ended with forZe closing out the game with a 16-13 statline. While Krad led the team on Ancient with 71 kills and a 1.23 rating, Milosz “mhL” Knasiak led Endpoint with a 68-59 kill-death ratio, which saw him finish with a 1.19 rating.

For a team going into their map choice (Overpass) with momentum from Ancient, forZe struggled to stay in the game. Despite barely leading the first half of the map 8-7, with Aleksandr “shalfey” Marenov leading the charge, their British counterpart seemed more in charge of the map.

Endpoint went on a five-round winning streak at the start of the second half of the map, leading forZe with a 12-8 scoreline. ForZe’s attempt to stage a comeback proved fruitless as mhL and Nertz led Endpoint to victory, forcing a third decider map (Mirage).

The third map saw Endpoint take an early lead with Nertz leading the team on the CT side. The British team had an outstanding 9-2 lead but lost control as forZe displayed great determination by overcoming their opponent to force a 9-6 scoreline by the end of the half.

Endpoint started out the second half of the map with a four-round run extending their lead to 13-9. This was soon short-lived as Evgeny “r3salt” Frolov stepped up and forced another comeback that saw the Russian team overcome the deficit and narrowly secured a 16-13 victory to win the series thereby securing their spot in Pro League.

This achievement is a huge accomplishment for forZe, who have been working hard to establish themselves as a top team in the competitive CS:GO scene. The team, coached by Artem “Fierce” Ivanov, has been making steady progress over the past few years and this spot in the upcoming Pro League is a testament to their hard work and dedication.

As the last team to qualify for ESL’s flagship league, forZe will join the ranks of teams invited through ESL’s world ranking, those who qualified through regional Conference tournaments, and the 15 Louvre Agreement partners.

The complete 32-team participating at the 2023 ESL Pro League 17 and their roster are outlined below:

Full Teams List Of Teams In ESL Pro League Season 17

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