Season 23 of ESL Pro League has come to a close, with NAVI outclassing Aurora in the grand final and taking the trophy home after a 3–1 victory.
This is NAVI’s first S-tier tournament title since IEM Rio 2024, where they bested MOUZ in the grand ginal with Justinas “jL” Lekavicius, one of the best CS2 players at the time, on the roster.
The Lithuanian’s replacement, Drin “makazze” Shaqiri, took home the ESL Pro League Season 23 MVP medal for his outstanding performances throughout the event, especially in the playoffs.
Here’s how it all went down.
w0nderful morphed into s1mple in ESL Pro League S23 grand final. Credit: © ESL
Coming into the final, NAVI were the CS2 betting favorites to take home the trophy. The bookies were right this time, with the international squad taking down Aurora 3–1, losing only on the Turks’ home map of Anubis.
The biggest difference maker for NAVI in this grand final was, hands down, Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov. While the Ukrainian sniper was rather quiet in the quarter-finals and the semis, he stepped up massively when it mattered most.
Beyond his solid output throughout the game, w0nderful was unstoppable in the clutch. It didn’t matter how many Aurora players were up against him, w0nderful had their number.
Another key piece of NAVI’s run at ESL Pro League Season 23 was makazze. The 19-year-old’s aggressive playstyle was too much to handle for NAVI’s opponents, both in groups and the playoffs.
It will be interesting to see where NAVI go from here. Will this win only strengthen their position as one of the best CS2 teams or elevate them to elite status?
Two years later, Aurora still can’t beat NAVI when it matters. Credit: © ESL
It seems like, despite their off-season roster change, Aurora is the same team they were a year ago. The Turks are a formidable squad, always in playoff contention, but unable to make a dent against the very best.
This grand final went almost exactly as expected. Their sole victory came on the grounds of Anubis, but they were simply outclassed on the other three maps. Lack of experience and stage struggles were evidently present for the whole roster.
While no Aurora player covered themselves in glory, the standout disappointing performance was that of Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş. He was by far the worst player on the server on Sunday, which should never be the case with his level of talent.
Unfortunately, nothing suggests Aurora will make a leap in the upcoming CS2 events and consistently challenge for trophies. Hopefully, they subvert those expectations and finally bring an S-tier trophy home to Turkey.
phzy stepped up against FUT in front of his home crowd. Credit © ESL
In other news, Astralis came out on top in their ESL Pro League trilogy against FUT and finished the event in 3rd place. It seems like there’s a rivalry building between the two teams.
FUT destroyed Astralis in their first game in Stage 1, before Astralis pulled the UNO reverse card and demolished FUT in their Stage 2 rematch. Ironically, the third game of the trilogy came in the third place decider match.
On stage, it was a much closer affair than online, with both teams fighting tooth and nail for the victory. In the end, Astralis’ players’ mental prevailed, winning 16–12 in overtime after coming back from a 12-9 deficit on the decider.
The comeback wouldn’t be possible without the heroics of Victor “Staehr” Staehr and Love “phzy” Smidebrant. The latter dominated on the AWP in front of his home crowd. It’s safe to say he has been a brilliant addition to the roster.
Both Astralis and FUT should be happy with their performances at ESL Pro League Season 23. They are some of the most exciting teams to watch in the scene at the moment.
Also read: G2 and Liquid complete malbsMd and NertZ swap ahead of CS2 Major cutoff
Featured image source: © ESL
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