FaZe Clan eked out a 2-1 win over Aurora Gaming on Wednesday and earned the final playoff berth at the ESL Pro League Season 22 in Stockholm.
Natus Vincere and 3DMAX also moved on to the quarterfinals with Wednesday victories.
The $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with 16 teams competing in Stage 1, with eight eliminated over five rounds. Eight more teams were invited directly to Stage 2.
Stage 2 featured the top eight teams from Stage 1 and the eight teams with automatic entries competing in a 16-team Swiss format, with all matches being best-of-three.
The top eight teams from Stage 2 qualified for the playoffs, which run Friday through Sunday with a single-elimination bracket. All playoff matches are best-of-three except for the grand final, which is best-of-five.
The championship team will receive $100,000.
The Wednesday action featured teams that had won two of their four previous matchups. FaZe Clan opened with a 13-8 win on Mirage, but Aurora Gaming came back to take Train 13-2. On the decisive third map, Dust II, FaZe Clan prevailed 13-10.
Slovakia’s David “frozen” Cernansky compiled 44 kills and a plus-5 kill-death differential for FaZe Clan. Samet “jottAAA” Koklu led all-Turkish Aurora Gaming with 54 kills and a plus-18 K-D differential.
Natus Vincere downed The MongolZ 2-0, winning 13-3 on Nuke, then 16-12 in overtime on Ancient. Romania’s Mihai “iM” Ivan paced Natus Vincere with 40 kills and a plus-18 K-D differential. Ayush “mzinho” Batbold posted 31 kills and a minus-1 K-D differential for the all-Mongolian MongolZ.
3DMAX dumped G2 Esports 2-0, taking Inferno 13-11 and Dust II 13-6. Pierre “Ex3rcice” Bulinge and Filip “Graviti” Brankovic each logged 33 kills for all-French 3DMAX. Guatemala’s Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa notched 35 kills and a plus-4 K-D differential for G2 Esports.
In the Friday quarterfinals, Team Spirit will oppose FaZe Clan, FURIA will meet Team Vitality, MOUZ will clash with Natus Vincere and 3DMAX will square off with Team Falcons.
ESL Pro League Season 22 prize pool
1. $100,000 — TBD
2. $50,000 — TBD
3. $28,000 — TBD
4. $22,000 — TBD
5-8. $18,000 — TBD
9-11. $13,500 — Aurora Gaming, G2 Esports, The Mongolz
12-14. $10,500 — Gentle Mates, Inner Circle Esports, HOTU
15-16. $8,500 — GamerLegion, Astralis
17-19. $6,500 — B8, ENCE, Legacy
20-22. $4,500 — Fluxo, HEROIC, M80
23-24. $3,000 — NRG, Rooster
–Field Level Media
