The first day of the group stage at ESL Pro League Season 23 brought plenty of emotions for Ukrainian fans. Teams began their fight for advancement to Stage 2, and we can already sum up the performances of the clubs that drew the most attention.
The Ukrainian club Monte started the tournament confidently, although the match wasn’t an easy one. They lost to the Danish club Astralis with a 2:1 score. This match was also a principled one for Rainwaker, as he was taken to replace the player ryu, who moved to Astralis. However, for now, the advantage is on the Lithuanian player’s side.
For NIP, the day ended with mixed impressions. The team showed some good gameplay, but instability prevented them from competing for a positive result. Despite the loss, the Swedish club demonstrated solid potential, so we will surely see victories from them in the future. They lost 1:2 to Legacy.
The FUT Esports roster continued the trend of strong starts that the team has shown in recent months. The Turkish organization won their matchup against M80 with a 2:1 score.
The debut of the new Passion UA lineup with Senzu turned out quite well. The team defeated Liquid with a clean 2:0 score.
All results:
PARIVISION 2:0 SemperFi
Heroic 2:0 NRG
G2 2:0 Gaimin Gladiators
Astralis 2:1 Monte
FUT Esports 2:1 M80
Legacy 2:1 NIP
Passion UA 2:0 Liquid
Pain 2:1 3DMAX

As a reminder, Inner Circle have lost the final of the qualifier for PGL Bucharest 2026.