The quarterfinals are set in the ESL Pro League Season 17, as four more teams were eliminated on Wednesday in Saint Julian’s, Malta.
Natus Vincere, FaZe Clan, ENCE and MOUZ each won in the Round of 12, with all but MOUZ doing so with 2-0 sweeps. Na’Vi beat Outsiders, FaZe Clan took care of FURIA Esports, and ENCE beat G2 Esports. MOUZ beat paiN gaming 2-1.
The winners will next play the four group stage winners, who will be making their playoff debuts in the quarters.
The $850,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began on Feb. 22 with 32 teams divided into four groups for the triple-elimination opening round.
The group-stage winners moved into the quarterfinals, with the group runners-up landing in the Round of 12 as high seeds. The four third-place teams entered the Round of 16 as high seeds, and the four fourth-place teams went to the Round of 16 as low seeds.
The tournament champion will receive $200,000 plus berths in the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne this summer and the BLAST Premier World Final in December.
On Wednesday, Na’Vi beat Outsiders 16-14 on Ancient and 16-7 on Mirage, becoming the only third-place team in group play to advance to the quarterfinals. Na’Vi was led by a balanced attack with three players each registering at least 41 kills. Ukraine’s Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev had a game-high 43 kills while teammate Ilya ‘Perfecto’ Zalutskiy of Russia led all players with a plus-17 kills-to-deaths differential.
FaZe had an equally easy time in their match, beating FURIA 16-9 on Anubis and 16-7 on Nuke. Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants of Latvia and Norway’s Havard “rain” Nygaard paced the victory with 38 kills apiece, while broky’s plus-16 K/D led all players.
ENCE needed to put in a little more work against G2 but ultimately prevailed 16-14 on Ancient and 16-10 on Vertigo. Israel’s Guy ‘NertZ’ Iluz (47 kills, plus-14) and Poland’s Pawel ‘dycha’ Dycha (45 kills, plus-17) paced the victory.
The final match of the day was the longest, with MOUZ pulling off a reverse sweep to advance. paiN won 16-9 on Nuke to move within a map of the win, but MOUZ won 16-13 on Inferno and 16-7 on Ancient to escape. Adam ‘torzsi’ Torzsas of Hungary’s 63 kills and plus-24 K/D led the way while German Jon ‘JDC’ de Castro contributed 56 kills and a plus-11.
The quarterfinals begin Thursday with a pair of games, followed by the other two quarters on Friday.
Quarterfinals Schedule
Thursday
–Heroic vs. Natus Vincere
–forZe vs. FaZe Clan
Friday
–Cloud9 vs. MOUZ
–Team Vitality vs. ENCE
ESL Pro League Season 17 prize pool and points distribution:
1. $200,000, 3,000 BLAST Premier points, qualification for Intel Extreme Masters Cologne and BLAST Premier World Final
2. $90,000, 2,000 BLAST Premier points
3-4. $50,000, 1,200 BLAST Premier points
5-8. $35,000, 500 BLAST Premier points
9-12. $25,000 — Outsiders, FURIA Esports, G2 Esports, paiN gaming
13-16. $20,000 — 00 Nation, Fnatic, Team Liquid, Movistar Riders
17-20. $15,000 — Eternal Fire, BIG, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Astralis
21-28. $8,000 — MIBR, IHC Esports, SAW, Complexity Gaming, OG, Grayhound Gaming, Rare Atom, Team Spirit
29-32. $4,000 — Evil Geniuses, Imperial Esports, Rooster, ATK
–Field Level Media
