G2, Virtus.pro, FlyQuest, FaZe advance in ESL Pro League 19 playoffs

G2 Esports, Virtus.pro, FlyQuest and FaZe Clan kicked off the playoff stage of the ESL Pro League Season 19 with victories in the Round of 16 on Tuesday in Saint Julian's, Malta.

G2 swept BIG 2-0, Virtus.pro beat GamerLegion 2-0, FlyQuest rallied past BetBoom Team 2-1 and FaZe edged Monte 2-1 in Tuesday's action. The four winners are on to the Round of 12, while the losing sides were eliminated from the competition.

The $750,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with 32 teams broken up into four groups of eight. Group-stage winners advanced to the quarterfinals; runners-up advanced to the Round of 12 as the high seeds; third-place teams advanced to the Round of 16 as the high seeds; and fourth-place teams advanced to the Round of 16 as the low seeds.

All matches are best-of-three until the grand final, which is best-of-five.

The tournament runs through Sunday. The winner earns $170,000 and qualifies for the IEM Cologne 2024 event.

On Tuesday, G2 needed overtime to beat BIG 19-16 on Inferno before rolling to a 13-4 victory on Ancient. Nikola "NiKo" Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina starred for G2 with 50 kills on a plus-18 kills-to-deaths differential.

Virtus.pro posted a pair of 13-11 wins over GamerLegion on Anubis and Mirage. Russia's Denis "electroNic" Sharipov paced Virtus.pro with 37 kills on a plus-6 K-D.

BetBoom opened with a 13-11 win on Vertigo, before FlyQuest responded with 13-9 wins on Mirage and Anubis to secure the comeback. Jay "Liazz" Tregillgas (plus-10) and Declan "Vexite" Portelli (plus-5) each posted 51 kills for FlyQuest's all-Australian squad.

FaZe won 13-7 on Vertigo before Monte evened the match with a 16-14 overtime win on Nuke. The final map was Mirage, where FaZe eked out a 13-10 triumph.

The playoffs continue Wednesday with four Round of 12 matches:

--3DMAX vs. G2 Esports

--The MongolZ vs. Virtus.pro

--Team Liquid vs. FlyQuest

--Natus Vincere vs. FaZe Clan

ESL Pro League Season 19 prize pool

1. $170,000, 2,000 BLAST Premier points -- TBD

2. $80,000, 1,400 points -- TBD

3-4. $45,000, 750 points -- TBD

5-8. $32,000, 275 points -- TBD

9-12. $23,500 -- TBD

13-16. $17,500 -- BIG, GamerLegion, BetBoom Team, Monte

17-20. $12,000 -- SAW, M80, FURIA Esports, Ninjas in Pyjamas

21-28. $7,000 -- Fnatic, Eternal Fire, Team Falcons, TYLOO, FORZE Esports, ENCE, Pera Esports, HEROIC

29-32. $3,500 -- Imperial Esports, Sharks Esports, Bad News Kangaroos, BOSS

--Field Level Media