• ‍Tournament: ESL Pro League Season 18 (LAN)‍
• Format: Group Stages with Double Elimination Bracket (Best of three matches)‍
• blameF topping the charts: 32 Open Kills, 80% Opening Duel Success and 0.16 Opening Kills Per Round
• After the Danish quintet clinched a spot in the playoffs, blameF was only outperformed by Vitality's Lotan "Spinx" Giladi, securing a rating of 1.46

Main team head coach, Peter "casle" Ardenskjold, recognized that the Danish squad's new in-game leader, Benjamin "blameF" Bremer, stood out in several leaderboards during the ESL Pro League Season 18 matches in Group A.

casle: The "baitF" nickname, which has unfortunately been somewhat of a narrative on social media, probably comes from people not always understanding that the best move sometimes can be to hold back.

Following the group stage, casle has responded to the "baitF" nickname used by ESL in a tweet highlighting the Danes' impressive stats in categories like Open Kills and Opening Duel Success.

casle: blameF Likes to Take the Lead

- BlameF's performances in the group stages were just outstanding. He made the right decisions as an IGL and managed to shoot a lot simultaneously. It's fantastic to have an IGL who is good at opening duels and first kills, casle says.

- But he was like that even before he became an IGL. Back then, he was simply a more aggressive rifler, and those are still some of the plays he brings to his new role.

- From my perspective, blameF likes to take the lead and show that opening kills are sometimes indeed required by an IGL. And he succeeded with that during the ESL Pro League.

casle: His Stats Speak For Themselves

- The "baitF" nickname, which has unfortunately been somewhat of a narrative on social media, probably comes from people not always understanding that the best move sometimes can be to hold back.

- Otherwise, his stats from Malta speak for themselves - if there was any doubt whether he's good at creating space for his teammates and making effective entries.

- blameF has always been strong in that particular area. I haven't witnessed the opposite in the ten months I've been part of the organization. People should take a more detailed look at his statistics!

- blameF's great quality is his ability to strategically engage in duels and know when to hold back, casle states.

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Results in Group A: 

• vs NIP: 0-2 (10-16, Ancient, 11-16, Inferno),
• vs ORKS: 2-0 (16-5, Nuke, 16-6, Overpass)
• vs GamerLegion: 2-0 (16-12, Vertigo, 16-8, Inferno)
• vs FURIA: 2-0 (16-7, Overpass, 16-13, Nuke)

Rewatch all the highlights from the Group Stage on ASTRALIS WATCH.

The playoff stage of the ESL Pro League Season 18 will take place from the 26th of September to the 1st of October.

A live audience will be present from the 29th of September, should the Danish quintet make it that far.