G2 Esports, Astralis and FURIA became the sixth, seventh and eighth teams to punch their Stage 2 tickets of ESL Pro League Season 22 by securing wins Thursday in Stockholm, Sweden.
G2 swept ENCE 2-0, Astralis edged Legacy 2-1 and FURIA topped B8 2-1 to advance from Round 5 matches as Stage 1 play concluded.
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.
Thursday’s clinchers join HOTU, Inner Circle Esports, 3DMAX, GamerLegion and Gentle Mates, all of which qualified for Stage 2 during the first four rounds. Eight teams have now been eliminated in total.
Stage 2 will take place from Oct. 4-8, featuring the eight teams advancing 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 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 features a $400,000 prize pool, with the winner receiving $100,000.
G2 clinched its spot with a convincing win over ENCE, winning 13-9 on Overpass and 13-5 on Train. Nemanja “hunter-” Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina led with 36 kills and a match-high 18 kills-to-deaths differential.
Astralis rallied past Legacy, losing Game 1 13-7 on Inferno before pulling out a 13-11 victory on Overpass and then a dominant 13-3 win on Ancient. Victor “Staehr” Staehr led the way with 47 kills for the all-Danish Astralis squad, while Guilherme “saadzin” Pacheco had a match-best 10 kills-to-deaths differential in a losing effort.
FURIA also came from behind to advance, dropping Game 1 to B8 13-5 on Mirage before rebounding with 13-8 and 13-9 wins on Inferno and Overpass, respectively. Mareks “YEKINDAR” Galinskis of Denmark led all with 50 kills and a plus-14 K-D.
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; B8; ENCE, Legacy
20-22. $4,500; Fluxo, HEROIC, M80
23-24. $3,000; NRG, Rooster
–Field Level Media
