FaZe Clan, Team Vitality, MOUZ, and Team Falcons advanced to the semifinals at the ESL Pro League Season 22 in Stockholm on Friday.
The four teams will meet in Saturday’s two semifinal matchups to determine who will play in Sunday’s grand final.
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.
Thursday’s action featured the eight teams that qualified for the playoffs out of Stage 2 squaring off in four quarterfinal matches
FaZe Clan swept Team Spirit, which had qualified as the top seed from Stage 2, with a 13-9 victory on Nuke followed by a 13-5 win on Mirage. Slovakia’s David “frozen” Cernansky led all with 43 kills and a plus-22 kill-death differential for FaZe Clan.
Vitality dropped the opener 13-9 to FURIA on Overpass but rebounded with 13-7 wins on both Inferno and Nuke to take the match. France’s Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut paced Vitality with 60 kills and a plus-17 K-D differential.
MOUZ also started with a loss, 16-14 in overtime on Ancient against Natus Vincere, but responded with a 13-8 win on Inferno and a 13-4 victory on Train. Israel’s Dorian ‘xertioN’ Berman had a match-high 59 kills for MOUZ, while fellow Israeli Lotan ‘Spinx’ Giladi’s plus-12 K-D led all players.
Team Falcons wrapped up the final semifinal spot in a similar fashion. 3DMAX won the opener 13-9 on Inferno before Falcons took 13-7 and 16-13 wins on Ancient and Nuke, respectively. Pierre ‘Ex3rcice’ Bulinge had a match-high 54 kills for the all-French 3DMZ, while Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov of Russia led the way with a plus-16 differential.
In Saturday’s semifinals, FaZe Clan will battle Team Vitality while MOUZ will square off with Falcons. The winners will advance to Sunday’s grand final and the losers will settle for the third-place match.
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 – Team Spirit, FURIA, Natus Vincere, 3DMAX
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
