FaZe Clan, Spirit advance to ESL Pro League Season 20 playoffs

FaZe Clan and Team Spirit clinched playoff berths at the ESL Pro League Season 20 by winning their respective groups' mid-bracket semifinals on Friday in Saint Julian's, Malta.

FaZe defeated Sangal Esports 2-0 to grab third place in Group A, while Spirit rallied to beat 3DMAX 2-1 to place third in Group B. The losing sides are still alive, moving into the lower brackets of their respective groups.

The group stage split 32 teams into four groups of a triple-elimination bracket format, with each match best-of-three. The top four teams from each group will move into the playoff bracket.

Group winners will advance straight into the playoff quarterfinals. Runners-up will advance to the Round of 12, third-place teams will move to the Round of 16 as high seeds and fourth-place teams will start in the Round of 16 as low seeds.

The single-elimination playoff bracket will be best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final on Sept. 22.

The winner will receive $170,000 and will qualify for the first ESL Pro Tour Championship of 2025.

On Friday, FaZe took down Sangal 13-11 on Anubis and 13-5 on Dust II. Norway's Havard "rain" Nygaard led FaZe with 43 kills and a plus-20 kills-to-deaths differential.

3DMAX defeated Team Spirit 13-6 on Anubis before Spirit tied things up with a 13-6 victory on Ancient. The final map was Nuke, and Spirit sped away with a 13-2 win. Russian Danil "donk" Kryshkovets had 52 kills on a plus-19 K-D to lead Spirit.

Team Spirit and 3DMAX won their mid-bracket quarterfinals earlier in the day to move into the third-place match.

Spirit also had to come from behind in the quarterfinals, beating The MongolZ 2-1. After taking a 13-9 defeat on Ancient, Spirit won 13-4 on Anubis and 13-11 on Nuke. Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov of Russia had 57 kills on a dominant plus-30 K-D for Spirit in that match.

3DMAX swept 9z Team in the quarters, eking out a 16-14 overtime win on Inferno before taking Nuke 13-5. France's Bryan "Maka" Canda had 41 kills on a plus-18 for 3DMAX.

To open the Group B lower-bracket quarterfinals, Wildcard swept KOI 2-0 (13-8 on Ancient, 13-7 on Nuke). Wildcard got 43 kills from Sweden's Love "phzy" Smidebrant on a plus-20 K-D.

In the Group A lower-bracket quarters, FlyQuest got past Lynn Vision Gaming 2-1. After losing 13-7 on Anubis, FlyQuest prevailed 13-10 on Vertigo and 16-13 in overtime on Ancient, powered by 64 kills and a plus-17 differential from Australia's Jay "Liazz" Tregillgas.

The tournament continues Saturday with five matches:

--Eternal Fire vs. Natus Vincere (Group A upper-bracket final)

--Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. HEROIC (Group A lower-bracket semifinal)

--Sangal Esports vs. FlyQuest (Group A lower-bracket semifinal)

--9z Team vs. The MongolZ (Group B lower-bracket semifinal)

--3DMAX vs. Wildcard (Group B lower-bracket semifinal)

ESL Pro League Season 20 prize pool (money, BLAST Premier points)

1. $170,000, 2,000 points

2. $80,000, 1,400

3-4. $45,000, 750

5-8. $32,000, 275

9-12. $23,500

13-16. $17,500

17-20. $12,000

21-28. $7,000

29-32. $3,500 -- Lynn Vision Gaming, KOI, two teams TBD

--Field Level Media