FaZe Clan, Ninjas in Pyjamas, OG and Team Vitality earned sweeps Wednesday as Group C play began at the ESL Pro League Season 17 in Malta.
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 C action resumes Thursday with FaZe Clan facing Ninjas and OG battling Vitality in the upper bracket semifinals, while Rooster will face paiN Gaming and 00 Nation will meet Grayhound in the mid bracket.
FaZe Clan defeated Rooster 16-6 on Nuke and 16-7 on Inferno. Russell “Twistzz” Van Dulken led FaZe with 43 kills and a plus-23 kills-to-deaths differential.
Ninjas swept paiN Gaming with 16-13 wins on both Nuke and Vertigo. Fredrik “REZ” Sterner paced NiP with 46 kills and a plus-10 differential.
OG defeated 00 Nation 22-18 in overtime on Ancient and 16-6 on Mirage. Abdul “degster” Gasanov tallied 51 kills and a plus-17 differential for the winners.
Vitality cruised past Grayhound, winning 16-4 on Inferno and 16-5 on Vertigo as Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut posted 46 kills and a plus-28 K-D differential.
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.
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
21-28. $8,000 — MIBR, IHC Esports, SAW, Complexity Gaming
29-32. $4,000 — Evil Geniuses, Imperial Esports
–Field Level Media
