Natus Vincere, FURIA Esports, paiN Gaming and G2 Esports won their Round of 16 games to kick off the playoff stage at the ESL Pro League Season 17 on Tuesday in Saint Julian’s, Malta.
Natus Vincere battled to a 2-1 win over 00 Nation, while the other games were decided in 2-0 sweeps. FURIA beat Fnatic, paiN prevailed over Team Liquid and G2 swept Movistar Riders.
The four winning clubs will play again Wednesday in the Round of 12, and the losing sides were eliminated.
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 entered the Round of 16 as high seeds, and the four fourth-place teams went to the Round of 16 as low seeds.
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.
NaVi opened with a 16-14 triumph on Ancient before 00 Nation countered with a 16-8 win on Overpass. The final map was Mirage, and NaVi ran away with it 16-4. Denis “electroNic” Sharipov of Russia had a game-high 58 kills and Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy of Ukraine added 57 kills on a plus-12 kills-to-deaths differential to lead NaVi.
FURIA eked out 16-13 wins on both Ancient and Anubis to eliminate Fnatic. The all-Brazilian winning squad was led by Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato’s 46 kills and plus-17 K-D.
Another all-Brazilian side, paiN, defeated Liquid 16-7 on Mirage and 16-12 on Ancient. Romeu “zevy” Rocco had 44 kills and a plus-11 K-D and Felipe “skullz” Medeiros added 42 kills on a plus-15 for paiN.
G2 beat Movistar Riders 16-10 on Vertigo before routing them 16-6 on Inferno. Justin “jks” Savage of Australia had game highs of 46 kills and a plus-23 K-D for G2.
Playoff action continues Wednesday with four matches in the Round of 12:
–Outsiders vs. Natus Vincere
–FaZe Clan vs. FURIA Esports
–MOUZ vs. paiN Gaming
–ENCE vs. G2 Esports
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 — 00 Nation, Fnatic, Team Liquid, Movistar Riders
17-20. $15,000 — Eternal Fire, BIG, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Astralis
21-28. $8,000 — MIBR, IHC Esports, SAW, Complexity Gaming, OG, Grayhound Gaming, Rare Atom, Team Spirit
29-32. $4,000 — Evil Geniuses, Imperial Esports, Rooster, ATK
–Field Level Media