The fourth and final group at the ESL Pro League Season 17 in Saint Julian’s, Malta, began play on Wednesday, with four teams advancing to the upper-bracket semifinals.
Rare Atom and ENCE will face off in one of Thursday’s Group D upper-bracket semis, and the other will feature Team Spirit and forZe.
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.
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.
On Wednesday, Rare Atom got things started with a 2-0 victory over Team Liquid, winning 16-11 on Inferno and 16-3 on Overpass. ENCE then booked their semi spot with a 2-1 triumph over ATK, winning 16-6 on Anubis, losing 16-14 on Vertigo, then taking the match with a 16-9 victory on Ancient.
On the other half of the bracket, Spirit took care of Astralis 16-4 on Ancient and 16-11 on Mirage, and then forZe came back to beat Natus Vincere, losing 16-11 on Overpass then winning 16-14 on Ancient and 16-11 on Inferno.
Liquid will play ATK and Astralis will face NAVI in the mid bracket on Friday.
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 on March 5 with Heroic in first, followed by MOUZ, FURIA Esports and Movistar Riders. In Group C, which concluded Sunday, the top four, in order, were Team Vitality, FaZe Clan, paiN Gaming and 00 Nation.
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, Ninjas in Pyjamas
21-28. $8,000 — MIBR, IHC Esports, SAW, Complexity Gaming, OG, Grayhound Gaming
29-32. $4,000 — Evil Geniuses, Imperial Esports, Rooster
–Field Level Media
