Team Vitality swept FaZe Clan to win the Group C upper-bracket final Sunday and qualify for the next round of the ESL Pro League Season 17 in Malta.
00Nation defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 in the lower bracket final to join FaZe Clan and paiN Gaming as the qualifiers from Group C. paiN Gaming qualified Saturday with a win in the mid-bracket final.
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.
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 last week with Heroic in first, followed by MOUZ, FURIA Esports and Movistar Riders. Group D play will start on March 15.
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.
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.
On Sunday, Vitality needed overtime in both rounds to advance, winning 19-16 on Anubis and 19-15 on Nuke. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut led Vitality with 61 kills and a plus-21 kills-to-death differential.
00Nation had to rally, dropping the first map to NiP 16-10 on Mirage. But 00 rebounded by winning 16-7 on Nuke and 16-12 on Ancient. Bruno “latto” Rebelatto led the all-Brazilian side with 56 kills and a plus-15 K-D differential.
Earlier, 00Nation defeated Grayhound 2-1 in the lower bracket semi to advance to face NiP.
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, Grayhound Gaming
29-32. $4,000 — Evil Geniuses, Imperial Esports, Rooster
–Field Level Media
