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FaZe Clan and Team Vitality advanced to the upper-bracket final of Group C on Thursday at the ESL Pro League Season 17 in Malta.

FaZe swept Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0 and Vitality beat OG by the same score to move on in the upper bracket. In mid-bracket action, paiN Gaming beat Rooster 2-0 and Grayhound Gaming outlasted 00 Nation 2-1 Thursday.

Group C play will continue Friday when paiN faces OG and Grayhound draws NiP in the mid-bracket semifinals.

FaZ defeated NiP 16-9 on Overpass before destroying them 16-3 on Ancient. Estonia’s Robin “ropz” Kool starred for FaZe with 44 kills and a plus-21 kills-to-deaths differential.

Vitality defeated OG 16-5 on Anubis and 16-9 on Vertigo. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut of France posted 44 kills and a plus-28 K-D to pace Vitality.

paiN got by Rooster 16-11 on Anubis before running away with a 16-4 win on Nuke. Three players had at least 40 kills for the all-Brazilian paiN squad, but Romeu “zevy” Rocco was tops with 48 kills and a plus-22 K-D.

00 Nation took an early lead by edging Grayhound 16-14 on Mirage. Grayhound fought back with matching 16-12 victories on Ancient and Inferno in order to advance. Australian Declan “Vexite” Portelli had a match-high 73 kills on a plus-14 differential for Grayhound.

Rooster and 00 Nation fell to the lower bracket, where they will play a do-or-die match Saturday.

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.

Group A play finished on Feb. 26 with Cloud9 coming in first, Outsiders in second, G2 Esports in third and Fnatic in fourth. Group B action ended last week with Heroic in first, followed by MOUZ, FURIA Esports and Movistar Riders. Group D play will start on March 15.

The group-stage winners move into the quarterfinals, with the group runners-up heading to the Round of 12 as high seeds. The four third-place teams enter in the Round of 16 as high seeds, and the four fourth-place teams go 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.

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
13-16. $20,000
17-20. $15,000 — Eternal Fire, BIG
21-28. $8,000 — MIBR, IHC Esports, SAW, Complexity Gaming
29-32. $4,000 — Evil Geniuses, Imperial Esports

–Field Level Media