Group D is up and running in season 16 of Counter Strike: Global Offensive's ESL Pro League.
After one round of matches, Cloud9, FURIA and Team Liquid are out in front, while Eternal Fire, Movistar Riders and Evil Geniuses all began their campaigns with defeats.
On Friday there are another three contests on the cards with Cloud9 taking on Movistar Riders to start the day's action before Eternal Fire face Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid go up against FURIA.
Groups A, B and C have already concluded in the ESL Pro League with Team Vitality, G2 Esports and MOUZ taking the top spots in each section to advance to the tournament's quarter-finals.
Fnatic, Natus Vincere, FaZe Clan, Outsiders, Heroic and Complexity, meanwhile, all achieved top-three berths and will move to the round of 12.
It remains to be seen which sides will join them from Group D, which runs through to Sunday.
The tournament's playoffs get underway on Tuesday 27th September with the round of 12 with the eventual champions set to scoop $175,000 and spots in the BLAST World Final 2022 and the IEM Katowice 2023.
Cloud9 can build on opening win over Evil Geniuses
| What | Cloud9 vs Movistar Riders, ESL Pro League |
| Where | Malta |
| When | 06:30 ET, Friday September 23rd |
| How to watch | ESL Youtube / Twitch channel / bet365's Live Streaming platform |
| Odds | Cloud9 -600, Movistar Riders +350 |
Cloud9 could have hardly asked for a more promising start to season 16 of the ESL Pro League, having swept aside Evil Geniuses 2-0 in their Group D opener.
They came out on top 16-12 on Inferno and 16-5 on Dust II with Abay "HObbit" Khasenov in particular impressing as all of Cloud9's players registered positive kill-death ratios.
It was a thoroughly dominant performance from June's IEM Dallas winners and they should have too much in their locker for Spanish side Movistar Riders.
Movistar Riders managed to take a map off opening opponents Team Liquid but ultimately fell to a 2-1 defeat. They could be even more out of their depth against Cloud9, who are worth chancing to win 2-0 at -138.
Fire and Geniuses could play out humdinger
| What | Eternal Fire vs Evil Geniuses, ESL Pro League |
| Where | Malta |
| When | 10:00 ET, Friday September 23rd |
| How to watch | ESL Youtube / Twitch channel / bet365's Live Streaming platform |
| Odds | Eternal Fire -188, Evil Geniuses +137 |
Eternal Fire came into season 16 of the ESL Pro League with a different roster to the one with which they qualified and they are expected to put up a fight in every match they play in Group D.
They opened the event with a 2-1 defeat to Brazilian powerhouses FURIA and that was not a bad result given FURIA made the semi-finals of the IEM Dallas in June, finished second in the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown North America and also made the last four of season 15 of the ESL Pro League.
Fire are -188 to follow that with victory on matchday three over Evil Geniuses, who were pummelled 2-0 by Cloud9 with none of their players registering positive kill-death ratios.
But this should be a more competitive encounter and over 2.5 maps could represent value at -120.
Resurgent Team Liquid could be worth a bet against FURIA
| What | Team Liquid vs FURIA, ESL Pro League |
| Where | Malta |
| When | 13:30 ET, Friday September 23rd |
| How to watch | ESL Youtube / Twitch channel / bet365's Live Streaming platform |
| Odds | Team Liquid -150, FURIA +110 |
Things are looking up for Team Liquid, who have been in good form since Mareks "YEKINDAR" Galinskis joined the side as a stand-in, replacing the iconic Richard "shox" Papillon.
Since "YEKINDAR" made his debut, the North American outfit have taken it up a notch, reaching the quarter-finals of the IEM Cologne and making the top three of the BLAST Premier Fall Groups.
Those performances saw them rise to third spot in HLTV's Counter Strike: Global Offensive world rankings and they opened their account in Group D of season 16 of the ESL Pro League with a 2-1 defeat of plucky Spaniards Movistar Riders.
Victory over Brazilians FURIA in their third game would represent a statement about how far the team has come and at -150, they could be value to come out on top.
