Week 9 of the ESL Pro League Season 5 is about to begin and promises to be the most decisive week of the ongoing season. Just a few days ahead of IEM Sydney, the first teams in the North American and European divisions have the opportunity to secure themselves a spot in the Pro League Finals in Dallas where they will compete for their share of the US$1,000,000 prize pool. As the only two teams, the Brazilian powerhouses, SK Gaming and Immortals, are able to lock their spot in on their own efforts.
SK Gaming
The team around superstars Fallen and Coldzera has been looking extremely strong all season long. Starting off with a 12-0 win streak, the Brazilians soon set themselves apart from the majority of the North American division only until OpTic Gaming managed to break their streak with a 16-14 on de_train.
Tuesday at 5pm PDT is their match against NRG Esports who have been doing surprisingly well in Season 5 so far and are looking likely to make it to the finals as well. SK Gaming need a 2-0 win over the American team to guarantee their top six placement and finals participation, as they would sit at 18 wins by then, which only five other teams could still reach.
Immortals
SK Gaming’s countrymen, Immortals, had a more difficult start to the season. Not only did they lose their opening match against SK, but ties with Cloud9 and OpTic Gaming in the early weeks of the season put them in a tough spot. Since then the Brazilians have been on an amazing run and are looking to secure their spot for the finals. Depending on the results of their direct competitors Team Liquid and Luminosity Immortals can secure their spot at the finals they might need 2 wins or less in this week’s matches.
If Cloud9 were to defeat Team Liquid 2-0, Immortals only needs a 2-0 win over Renegades. Otherwise, Immortals’ next chance to qualify for the finals will be the day after in their match against Liquid during which they’ll need to score a win.
Will Brazil take over Dallas?
All of the matches will be streamed live on our YouTube channel so be sure not to miss any of them and watch SK Gaming and Immortals potentially locking in their spots in the Pro League Season 5 Finals! Full schedule can be found here.
Tickets to the event are available so join us to watch the best teams in the world compete for glory and some serious prize money.
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