The ESL Pro League Season 23 Grand Final pairing is a repeat of Season 20, with the Turks of Aurora, then Eternal Fire, taking on Natus Vincere.
Last time around, NAVI were the best team in the world, and clear CS2 betting favorites. While their place in the Counter-Strike landscape has shifted quite a bit since then, the bookies are still leaning their way.
Who will capitalize on the opportunity to grab their first trophy of the year without Vitality to take it away?
Wicadia is outshining XANTARES so far at EPL. Credit: ESL
Aurora is quietly having a good start to 2026. For one reason or another, there’s not much hype or attention surrounding the Turkish team, and that seems to be to their benefit.
While they are not blowing teams away in spectacular fashion, they are grinding out results and withstanding the pressure, even in tight playoff matches. That’s the most promising sign of all, as they used to crumble on the stage.
Unless Aurora are playing against Vitality, they can make any series competitive. They have two strong home maps in Anubis and Dust II, where they always pose a serious threat.
So far at ESL Pro League Season 23, it hasn’t been a one-man show on the side of Aurora. Their biggest star and one of the best CS2 players, Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş, is yet to show what he can do on the server.
If they want to go all the way and lift their first S-tier trophy as part of a full Turkish lineup, they will need everyone to be playing at their very best.
NAVI’s rifling trio is firing on all cylinders right now. Credit: © ESL
NAVI has shown in this tournament how they were able to dominate in 2024, without a dedicated star player. Their core rifling trio had and still has an extremely high ceiling, allowing them to consistently challenge all of the best CS2 teams.
Everyone was praising Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov for his exceptional performances at the most recent Major, but now he is being outshone by his fellow teammates. The most impressive piece of the NAVI puzzle is by far Drin “makazze” Shaqiri.
The 19-year-old had big shoes to fill when joining NAVI, replacing the Major MVP Justinas “jL” Lekavicius. Unfazed by the challenge, he has been playing out of his mind lately, especially on Ancient, where he is undoubtedly one of the world’s best.
If NAVI manage to clinch the trophy, it will be interesting to see what happens with the team going forward, as there were rumours of possible roster changes happening in the off-season.
However, seeing how well they are performing in this tournament, they don’t need any transfers to be competitive in the upcoming CS2 events.
Can Aurora exact revenge on NAVI after EPL S20 Grand Final defeat? Credit: © ESL
The CS2 odds have NAVI as heavy favorites to take down Aurora in the EPL Season 23 Grand Final, but we think that, in reality, this game could go either way.
On one hand, NAVI have looked more convincing at this event, and they have a four-game win streak against Aurora. The last time they lost to the Turks was when they still played under the Eternal Fire banner in March 2025.
On the other hand, Aurora have a distinct advantage in the veto, as they perma ban Ancient, NAVI’s best map, and will probably get to play Anubis and Dust II, where, on paper, they are stronger than NAVI.
Taking everything into consideration, this Grand Final will probably be a very close affair that’s likely to go all five maps. When the game gets chaotic, experience in high-pressure moments might be the deciding factor.
Because of that experience edge, we have NAVI extending their win streak over Aurora and claiming the ESL Pro League Season 23 title after a treacherous BO5 victory. Let’s see if the game plays out that way.
Score prediction:
Odds:
Odds courtesy of GG.Bet Esports and are subject to change.
Also read: G2 and Liquid complete malbsMd and NertZ swap ahead of CS2 Major cutoff
Featured image source: © ESL
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