GamerLegion, 3DMAX and Gentle Mates became the third, fourth and fifth teams to punch their Stage 2 tickets of ESL Pro League Season 22 by securing wins Wednesday in Stockholm, Sweden.
GamerLegion swept B8 2-0, 3DMax overcame ENCE 2-1 and Gentle Mates swept Legacy 2-0 to advance out of Stage 1 in Round 4 High matches.
There were 16 teams at the start of Stage 1, with eight more teams invited directly to Stage 2: Team Vitality, MOUZ, Team Spirit, The MongolZ, Team Falcons, Aurora Gaming, FaZe Clan and Natus Vincere.
Wednesday’s clinchers join HOTU and Inner Circle Esports, which each won their first three matches to advance to Stage 2. Five teams have also now been eliminated.
The remaining six teams will face off in Round 5 matches Thursday to determine which teams earn the final three Stage 2 spots up for grabs.
Stage 1 runs from Sunday to Thursday with a 16-team Swiss format and all matches best-of-three. The top eight teams advance to Stage 2, which is Oct. 4-8 and has the same format.
The top eight teams from Stage 2 qualify for the playoffs, which run Oct. 10-12 with a single-elimination bracket. All matches are best-of-three except for the grand final, which is best-of-five.
The tournament has a $400,000 prize pool, with the winner rewarded with $100,000.
GamerLegion clinched its spot with a convincing win over B8, winning 13-9 on Ancient and 13-11 on Inferno. Oldrich “PR” Novy of the Czech Republic led with 42 kills while Denmark’s Sebastian “Tauson” Lindelof had a match-high plus-14 kills-to-deaths differential.
3DMAX rallied past ENCE, losing Game 1 13-11 on Dust2 before winning 13-5 on Nuke and 16-14 on Ancient. Pierre “Ex3rcice” Bulinge (53), Lucas “Lucky” Chastang (52) and Bryan “Maka” Canda (51) each had over 50 kills for the all-French 3DMAX squad.
Gentle Mates rolled past Legacy, winning 13-11 on Ancient and then 13-4 on Mirage. Antonio “MartinezSa” Martinez led the all-Spanish team with 36 kills and a plus-12 K-D.
In elimination matches Thursday, G2 Esports, Astralis and FURIA won to maintain their chance of advancing to Stage 2.
G2 Esports overcame an early deficit with a 13-11 loss on Ancient to knock out Fluxo with a 2-1 victory after running away with a 13-2 win on Inferno and 13-4 on Mirage. Nikita ‘HeavyGod’ Martynenko of Israel had 54 kills for G2 Esports.
After winning 13-10 on Mirage and losing 13-4 on Inferno, Astralis blew out HEROIC 13-2 in the deciding Game 3 on Nuke over HEROIC to win 2-1. Victor “Staehr” Staehr led the Danish squad with 48 kills and was tied for the team lead with a plus-nine K-D.
FURIA was the only team in a Round 4 Low match that swept, disposing of M80 with a 2-0 win thanks to a 13-8 win on Overpass and a 13-7 win on Inferno. Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato of Brazil dominated for FURIA with 47 kills in the match, 10 more than anyone else.
Stage 1 concludes with three matches on Thursday:
Round 5
G2 Esports vs. Ence
Astralis vs. Legacy
FURIA vs. B8
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, TBD
12-14. $10,500, TBD
15-16. $8,500, TBD
17-19. $6,500, TBD
20-22. $4,500; Fluxo, HEROIC, M80
23-24. $3,000; NRG, Rooster
–Field Level Media
