Professional CS:GO Players Praise ESL After Another Successful IEM Sydney Event

Ross Deason

FaZe Clan’s Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen and Fnatic’s Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell have praised ESL heavily after yet another successful installment of the popular IEM Sydney event.

As one of the biggest and best tournament organizers in all of esports, ESL often receives heavy criticism from the various communities who expect near perfection from them and their events.

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You only need to look at the reactions to their recent broadcasting deal with Facebook, or their handling of the Mythic players that tried to stream a recent ESL qualifier match, to see that they’re not always in everyone’s good books.

However, few could deny that their recent Intel Extreme Masters tournaments for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive have been nothing short of brilliant and the $250,000 IEM Sydney was no exception to that rule.

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Boasting what is arguably the best crowd and atmosphere of any esports tournament this year, IEM Sydney also featured some truly memorable matches as the likes of FaZe Clan, Astralis, Renegades, TyLoo and more all produced some moments of magic.

FaZe Clan would eventually go on to win the tournament with a 3-0 series score over Astralis and the team’s in-game leader, Karrigan, was quick to praise ESL’s running and organization of the event.

Karrigan was clearly particularly pleased with their stage and sound setup which doesn’t use the standard soundproof booth system that many now organizers now opt for.

That wasn’t the only thing that ESL did right in the opinion of the players though, as JW pointed out that their practice rooms were a “BIG improvement” and noted how important that factor can be for top teams that often travel from event to event with very few breaks.

FaZe Clan’s victory over Astralis showed that the super team isn’t dead just yet despite struggling a great deal during their earl group stage matches.

Fnatic also proved that they should still be in the conversation as potential tournament winners with a 5th – 6th place finish and strong showings even in their losses.

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About The Author

Ross is a former Dexerto writer and editor. Ross joined Dexerto in 2017 as a CSGO and Call of Duty writer after completing his History degree. He later became the Acting Head of Editorial at Dexerto but failed in his mission to become a Counter-Strike pro. Maybe it's time to retire and give Valorant a try.