HOTU, ENCE, Inner Circle, Gentle Mates prevail at ESL Pro League 22

HOTU, ENCE, Gentle Mates and Inner Circle Esports each won 2-1 decisions on Monday to advance to the Round 3 High matches at ESL Pro League Season 22 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Those four teams are now one win away from clinching their place in Stage 2. HOTU defeated B8, ENCE rallied past Astralis, Gentle Mates came back to beat G2 Esports and Inner Circle topped GamerLegion. Those four losing sides are still alive but drop into the Round 3 Mid matches.

There are 16 teams in Stage 1, with eight more teams invited to Stage 2: Team Vitality, MOUZ, Team Spirit, The MongolZ, Team Falcons, Aurora Gaming, FaZe Clan and Natus Vincere.

Stage 1 runs from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2 with a 16-team Swiss format and all matches best-of-three. The top eight teams advance to Stage 2, which is Oct. 4-8 and has the same format.

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 has a $400,000 prize pool, with the winner rewarded with $100,000.

On Monday, HOTU fell to B8 13-7 on Overpass before notching a 13-10 victory on Mirage and a 13-2 blowout on Ancient. Russia's Kim "frontales" Argunov led HOTU with 51 kills on a plus-19 kills-to-deaths differential.

ENCE fell 16-13 in overtime on Ancient to open the match against Astralis, but they came back, prevailing 13-2 on Nuke and 13-7 on Overpass. Switzerland native Rigon "rigoN" Gashi had a match-high 52 kills on a plus-11 differential to help ENCE.

Gentle Mates also suffered a first-map loss, 13-2 on Inferno, before fighting back to beat G2 13-11 on Mirage and 13-7 on Ancient. David "dav1g" Granado Bermudo led the all-Spanish Gentle Mates roster with 51 kills and a plus-13 K-D.

Inner Circle defeated GamerLegion 13-3 on Ancient, absorbed a 22-20 overtime defeat on Overpass and then blew their opponents away 13-1 on Dust II. Ukraine's David "Dawy" Bibik had 65 kills and a plus-17 and countryman Artem "cairne" Mushynskyi had 61 kills on a plus-23 for Inner Circle.

In the four Round 2 Low matches, 3DMAX swept Rooster 2-0, HEROIC did the same to M80, Legacy beat NRG 2-1 and FURIA blanked Fluxo 2-0. The four losing teams drop into the lose-and-go-home Round 3 Low matches.

The tournament continues Tuesday with eight matches:

Round 3 High:

--HOTU vs. ENCE

--Inner Circle Esports vs. Gentle Mates

Round 3 Mid:

--G2 Esports vs. B8

--Astralis vs. GamerLegion

--HEROIC vs. 3DMAX

--FURIA vs. Legacy

Round 3 Low:

--M80 vs. Rooster

--NRG vs. Fluxo

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, TBD

20-22. $4,500, TBD

23-24. $3,000, TBD

--Field Level Media