ESL Pro League S23 has kicked off, bringing a wave of revamped rosters making their debut appearances.

We know, two weeks of online CS is pretty daunting, but the excitement of seeing these new lineups in action and EPLs laid-back vibe actually turns it into an enjoyable stretch.

The warmup Stage began with a couple of teams you’ve probably never seen before getting reality-checked by the heavyweights. SemperFi and Gaimin Gladiators were handed their expected opening-round losses by PARIVISION and G2, respectively. Jame and the boys simply operate on a different plane of existence.

In another absolute shocker, M80 were obliterated by FUT after somehow taking the first map, with the wonder trio of dziugss, dem0n, and lauNX leading the charge.

We’ll skip dwelling on how bad NIP looked against Legacy, because the real story isn’t there. Here’s a little guessing game: who topped the series for the Brazilians with a 1.19 rating? It’s not who you’re thinking… unless you thought of arT. Don’t get too excited though, he’s still very much the same arT.

Next up among the debutants, Grim got off to a very rough start with NRG, posting a 0.74 rating as they were swept by HEROIC. He’s clearly still finding his footing in the new environment, but one of the perks of the Swiss format is that he’ll have a few more chances to get some reps in.

The first game of misutaa’s 3DMAX campaign wasn’t as disastrous - as he put up a respectable 1.08 rating - but it wasn’t enough to prevent a loss to paiN after a hard-fought three-mapper.

On the other hand, we finally got to see Senzu in a Passion UA jersey - and it was just as weird as you’d imagine. Strange as it might look, the kid came back like he never left. In a match where Liquid joined NIP in the absolute ass club, Senzu delivered a 1.27 rating in a clean 2-0 sweep. With try showing flashes as well, this roster has already made a strong first impression, and we’re excited to see how they develop.

Day 2 of EPL S23 is headlined by HEROIC vs Astralis and G2 vs Legacy in the 1-0 group, while Grim gets another shot at redemption as NRG take on Monte to decide who drops to 0-2.