HEROIC won the lower bracket final of Group A, while G2 Esports and The MongolZ advanced via wins in Group B, as all three teams clinched playoff berths at the ESL Pro League Season 20 in Saint Julian’s, Malta.
MIBR also qualified despite dropping the 2-0 contest to G2.
In a win-or-go-home scenario, HEROIC defeated Sangal 2-0, winning 13-11 on Mirage and 13-9 on Nuke to qualify via the Group A lower bracket final. Guy “NertZ” Iluz of Israel paced the winners with 43 kills and a plus-14 kills-to-deaths ratio.
The MongolZ similarly had no margin for error, but they made quick work of 3DMAX, 2-0, in the lower bracket final of Group B. MongolZ won 13-8 on Anubis and 13-7 on Ancient. Mongolia’s Sodbayar “Techno” Munkhbold led the way for the winning side with 36 kills and a plus-11 K-D margin.
In the other Sunday match, G2 defeated MIBR 13-8 on Anubis and 13-8 on Inferno, though both teams advanced through the upper bracket of Group B. Four of five starters for G2 finished with positive K-D ratios in the win, led by Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Nikola “NiKo” Kovac’s plus-16 (37 kills).
The group stage split 32 teams into four groups of a triple-elimination bracket format, with each match best-of-three. The top four teams from each group will move into the playoff bracket.
Group winners will advance straight into the playoff quarterfinals. Runners-up will advance to the Round of 12, third-place teams will move to the Round of 16 as high seeds and fourth-place teams will start in the Round of 16 as low seeds.
The single-elimination playoff bracket will be best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final on Sept. 22.
The winner will receive $170,000 and will qualify for the first ESL Pro Tour Championship of 2025.
After a break in the action Monday, Group C and Group D get underway on Tuesday:
— MOUZ vs. Rooster (Group C upper quarterfinals)
— BIG vs. Imperial Esports (Group C upper quarterfinals)
— Complexity vs. M80 (Group C upper quarterfinals)
— Fnatic vs. Astralis (Group C upper quarterfinals)
— Team Liquid vs. ENCE (Group D upper quarterfinals)
— RED Canids vs. Virtus.pro (Group D upper quarterfinals)
ESL Pro League Season 20 prize pool (money, BLAST Premier points)
1. $170,000, 2,000 points
2. $80,000, 1,400
3-4. $45,000, 750
5-8. $32,000, 275
9-12. $23,500
13-16. $17,500
17-20. $12,000 — Sangel Esports, 3DMAX, two teams TBD
21-28. $7,000 — Ninjas in Pyjamas, FlyQuest, 9z Team, Wildcard, four teams TBD
29-32. $3,500 — Lynn Vision Gaming, KOI, two teams TBD
–Field Level Media
