MOUZ and Team Vitality became the first two teams to punch their tickets to the playoff stage at ESL Pro League Season 24 as they earned their third straight group-stage wins on Monday in Katowice, Poland.
MOUZ swept Team Spirit 2-0 and Vitality topped Team Falcons 2-1 in the Round 3 High Matches that pitted unbeaten teams. Spirit and Falcons are still alive but must run it back in the Round 4 High Matches on Tuesday.
The $1 million Counter-Strike 2 event runs through Sunday. The group stage features 16 teams playing best-of-three matches in a Swiss format and will conclude Wednesday.
The top eight teams advance to the playoffs, which are single elimination starting Friday and will be best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final on Sunday.
On Monday, MOUZ raced past Team Spirit 13-5 on Dust II and finished them off with a 13-11 win on Mirage. Hungary’s Adrian “xelex” Vincze and Israel’s Lotan “Spinx” Giladi posted 40 kills apiece for MOUZ.
Falcons opened the other High match with a 13-9 win on Anubis, but Vitality responded with a 13-4 rout on Dust II and completed the comeback with a 13-8 result on Mirage. Robin “ropz” Kool of Estonia had 51 kills to power Vitality.
Monday also saw the first two eliminations of the tournament. In the Round 3 Low matches, G2 Esports blanked ShindeN 2-0 and M80 knocked out TYLOO 2-1.
G2 prevailed 13-6 on Dust II and 13-9 on Ancient, getting a match-high 42 kills from Slovakia’s Matus “MATYS” Simko. M80 fell 13-10 on Mirage before rallying to wins of 13-7 on Cache and 13-8 on Anubis, with German Fritz “slaxz-” Dietrich’s 60 kills leading the way.
In the four Round 3 Mid matches, FURIA rallied past PARIVISION 2-1, Natus Vincere swept 9z Team 2-0, 1w Team blanked Legacy by the same score and Aurora Gaming outlasted BetBoom Team 2-1.
The tournament continues Tuesday with six Round 4 matches:
–Team Spirit vs. 1w Team (High)
–FURIA vs. Aurora Gaming (High)
–Team Falcons vs. Natus Vincere (High)
–G2 Esports vs. PARIVISION (Low)
–9z Team vs. BetBoom Team (Low)
–Legacy vs. M80 (Low)
The $1 million prize pool with total, player prize and team share:
1. $295,000 ($125,000, $170,000)
2. $175,000 ($50,000, $125,000)
3. $120,000 ($30,000, $90,000)
4. $85,000 ($20,000, $65,000)
5-8. $50,000 ($10,000, $40,000)
9-11. $26,000 ($6,000, $20,000)
12-14. $14,000 ($4,000, $10,000)
15-16. $2,500 ($2,500, $0) — ShindeN, TYLOO
–Field Level Media
