G2 Esports and Team Vitality qualified for the semifinals at the ESL Pro League Season 16 with victories Friday in Malta.
G2 went the distance with Natus Vincere, winning 2-1, and Team Vitality swept Outsiders 2-0. That knocked Natus Vincere and Outsiders out of the tournament.
In Saturday’s semifinals, G2 and Vitality will square off, with Cloud9 and Team Liquid set to meet on the other side of the bracket.
The $835,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with 24 teams vying for a $175,000 first prize and a berth in the BLAST Premier World Final. Only the Season 16 champion will clinch a spot in the $1 million Final set for Dec. 14-18 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The Season 16 winner also secures a berth in the $1 million Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023, scheduled for Jan. 31-Feb. 12 in Poland.
The Pro League teams were divided into four groups for the initial round-robin Group Stage. The four group champions advanced to the playoff quarterfinals, while the teams that came in second and third in each group moved on to the playoffs’ Round of 12.
All matches in the group stage and the playoffs are best-of-three until the best-of-five final on Sunday.
NaVi opened with a 16-13 win over G2 on Dust II. G2 fought back with a 16-9 victory on Inferno and clinched the match with a 16-9 triumph on Mirage. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov of Russia led G2 with 65 kills and a plus-21 kills-to-deaths differential, while Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev of Ukraine had match highs of 69 kills and a plus-24 for NaVi.
Vitality ousted Outsiders with a 16-13 win on Mirage and a 19-17 overtime squeaker on Dust II. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut of France starred for Vitality with 56 kills and a plus-24 K-D. Russia’s Petr “fame” Bolyshev posted 46 kills on a plus-9 for Outsiders.
The tournament continues Saturday with the two semifinal matches:
–Cloud9 vs. Team Liquid
–G2 Esports vs. Team Vitality
ESL Pro League Season 16 prize pool
1. TBD — $175,000
2. TBD — $70,000
3-4. TBD — $35,000
5-8. MOUZ, FaZe Clan — $37,500; Outsiders — $32,500; Natus Vincere — $27,500
9-12. Heroic, FURIA Esports — $32,000; Complexity Gaming, Fnatic — $27,000
13-16. Team Spirit, BIG, Astralis, Evil Geniuses — $19,000
17-20. Ninjas in Pyjamas, Eternal Fire — $17,500; MIBR, ENCE — $12,500
21-24. Endpoint, HEET — $11,000; FTW Esports, Movistar Riders — $6,000
–Field Level Media
