Benjamin "blameF" Bremer and his team have packed their bags and made their way to Malta, all set to begin their journey in the grand ESL Pro League Season 18 LAN tournament.
Their first challenge in the opening round of Group A will be against the prominent Swedish roster, Ninjas in Pyjamas. The Danes are slated to face their opponents at 19:30 CEST, concurrent with the match between Vitality and ORKS.
This prestigious LAN tournament is the next major test for the main squad following their impressive performance at IEM Cologne 2023, where they advanced from the play-in stage to the semifinals.
As this significant CS:GO event begins, 32 teams will vie for supremacy until October 1st, competing for a total prize pool of $850,000.
blameF, the in-game leader, has shared some insights regarding their upcoming match against NiP:
- ESL Pro League is a fantastic tournament because it's just a huge one, blameF says.
- Unfortunately, it's without spectators, which we recently experienced at IEM Cologne 2023, but still, participating in the ESL Pro League is always a thrill. Moreover, our group has many strong teams, including NiP and Vitality.
- Particularly in the opening match against NiP, we mustn't go into the game overly confident just because we won the last time and are coming off a successful tournament in Cologne. It's not guaranteed that we'll win easily again, the in-game leader states.
- It always requires unwavering focus and ambition, and, cliché or not, it's about taking one game at a time. And this will be a new match against Vitality, which we can just as quickly lose as a win if we're not entirely focused, blameF says.
- Overall, it will be exciting to play in the ESL Pro League and great to travel as a team again. We are fully focused on new strategies and adjustments to plays that, for example, have yet to work as intended.
- Of course, we also need to maintain many things that went well at IEM Cologne. But we've also dared to innovate for new, effective strategies, the in-game leader notes.
The champion of ESL Pro League Season 18 will pocket a hefty $200,000 and clinch coveted spots in the IEM Katowice 2024 and the BLAST Premier World Final 2023.
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