North American Counter-Strike: Global Offensive play has been a predictable affair at ESL Pro League: SK Gaming has dominated week after week, and Cloud9 has duked it out with Team Liquid for second place. Week 5 was no exception, but some drama ensued for one of the top three.
Tuesday started with the return of a familiar face: Ryan "fREAKAZOiD" Abadir. Filling in for Spencer "Hiko" Martin, who decided to step down as OpTic Gaming's in-game leader, fREAKAZOiD finished with a 36/29 KD (kills/deaths) over two games and helped OpTic (7-3) earn two wins over 12th-place Rush (3-11). Playing in his first competitive match in months on Inferno, fREAKAZOiD elected for a conservative, support style. He held the 'Banana' area of the map well alongside Tarik "tarik" Celik, while William "RUSH" Wierzba decimated his opponents at the initial point of contact, thriving in an entry-fragging role. Don't expect fREAKAZOiD to remain on OpTic long, however, as he has made it clear that he was simply on loan from Echo Fox as a stop-gap.
Meanwhile, Team Liquid's roster fell apart. Amid rumors that management was very close to trading Jacob "Pimp" Winneche and Joshua "jdm64" Marzano for OpTic's RUSH and Oscar "mixwell" Cañellas, Liquid (9-4) has seemingly lost all confidence during its matches. Liquid dropped both games on Wednesday against sixth-place Counter Logic Gaming, which was 5-5 before winning two maps against Liquid. Star player Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski finished with a meager 33/40 KD, while jdm64 earned the least amount of kills on his team with a 13/20 KD. After Wednesday's disheartening losses, Pimp requested a transfer from the team and has been moved to a substitute position.
With both OpTic and Liquid shuffling rosters around, SK Gaming offered a bit of stability for the scene on Thursday. Up against Misfits, SK (12-0) breezed to two easy wins on Cobblestone and Mirage. SK's superstar Marcelo "coldzera" David went ballistic on Cobblestone, posting a remarkable 28-8 KD along with a 114.5 ADR (average damage per round) on Misfits (7-7). Mirage was more of the same for coldzera, where he finished with a 29/11 KD and a monstrous 146.9 ADR. Long touted as perhaps the best player in the world, coldzera's form right now should terrify opponents.
SK Gaming looks unstoppable in first place after five weeks. Cloud9 (9-3), NRG Esports (9-3) and Team Liquid are close behind in a three-way tie for second in points, though Liquid's roster drama could hold them back. Luminosity Gaming, at 8-6, rounds out the top five. Week 6 picks back up at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday with a match between SK and OpTic.