Group B has now taken the stage at ESL Pro League Season 17 - with four teams having been now been delegated to the Mid Bracket.
ESL Pro League Season 17: Group B Mid Bracket Round 1 schedule and betting odds
We've already had plenty of CS:GO esports excitement in Group B, after the action kicked off with the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals on March 1.
And with Heroic, BIG, FURIA Esports and MOUZ having all earned the right to advance to the Upper Bracket Semifinals, our attention now turns to the Semifinal losers - Who now find themselves going head-to-head in the Mid Bracket.
Our first match of the day kicks off at 11:30 AM GMT when we'll see Movistar Riders going up against Complexity Gaming.
Movistar Riders (3.80) vs Complexity Gaming (1.22)
Movistar Riders had an unfortunate, though perhaps predictable start to ESL Pro League Season 17. The team suffered a bruising 2-0 loss in their March 1 match against Heroic, with scores of 16-6 on Ancient and 16-5 on Overpass. Despite having earned the right to attend this month's tournament through their victory over Outsiders in the Grand Final of ESL Challenger at DreamHack Valencia 2022, Movistar has little experience competing at events of this level and seems to be struggling against the competition.
Complexity Gaming meanwhile suffered a 2-1 loss to BIG on March 1, taking Ancient with a score of 16-8, before BIG turned the tide by taking Nuke with a score of 16-12 and Vertigo with 16-14. It was a considerably closer match than Movistar's Season 17 debut, with Complexity keeping up the momentum that saw them recently qualifying for the BLAST.tv Paris Major. While it was hardly the most promising start to the tournament, they're not out of the runnings yet.
The odds are strongly in Complexity Gaming's favour here, at 1.22 vs Movistar Riders' 3.80.
Our second and final Mid Bracket match will take place at 18:30 GMT, and will see SAW competing against Imperial Esports.
SAW (1.90) vs Imperial Esports (1.80)
SAW's March 1 match against MOUZ hardly went as planned, with the team suffering a 2-0 loss with scores of 16-3 on Vertigo and 16-9 on Ancient. It was something a one-sided match, setting SAW up for a rough start to this month's tournament. Still, SAW has some recent bragging rights to their name, with their victory at the European Conference earning their invitation to ESL Pro League Season 17 in the first place. The pressure will be on for the team to turn things around, or else they may soon find themselves fighting for survival in the Lower Bracket.
Imperial Esports have also just suffered a 2-0 loss, though their defeat at the hands of FURIA Esports was remarkably less one-sided. With scores of 16-13 on Inferno and 19-16 on Mirage, Imperial were able to put up a solid defence, despite the odds having been heavily against them in their showdown against FURIA. Imperial Esports also had to earn their right to attend ESL Pro League Season 17, having claimed victory at the South American Conference. They'll be facing some steep competition elsewhere in this tournament, but they should find themselves pretty evenly matched with SAW.
And indeed this is shaping up to be an incredibly close match, with the odds ever so slightly in Imperial's favour, at 1.80 vs SAW's 1.90.
Which Mid Bracket team has your support, and who do you think will be sent down to the Lower Bracket? Whoever you choose to back, remember that you can watch every match at ESL Pro League Season 17 via the full match schedule here. And before you tune in, remember to sign up to claim your free 100% bonus!
