HOTU, Inner Circle finish first stage 3-0 at ESL Pro League 22

Field Level Media|published: Tue 30th September, 17:17 2025

Nov 5, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; Fans react during the League of Legends World Championships between T1 and DRX at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

HOTU and Inner Circle Esports became the first two teams to advance from Stage 1 to Stage 2 of ESL Pro League Season 22 by notching wins Tuesday in Stockholm, Sweden.

HOTU's 2-0 sweep of ENCE and Inner Circle's 2-1 comeback against Gentle Mates ensured those teams went 3-0 through the first three rounds of Stage 1. They grabbed the first two of eight available berths into the next stage.

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

Stage 1 runs from Sunday to Thursday 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 Tuesday, HOTU sailed past ENCE 13-4 on Dust II and 13-8 on Ancient. Dmitry "mizu" Kondratev of Russia led HOTU with 36 kills on a plus-15 kills-to-deaths differential.

Inner Circle fell 13-8 to Gentle Mates on Nuke, but rebounded to win two close maps, 13-10 on Mirage and 13-11 on Ancient. Ukraine's David "Dawy" Bibik paced Inner Circle with 54 kills on a plus-11 K-D.

The two Round 3 Low matches determined the first two teams to be eliminated from the competition: Rooster and NRG.

M80 swept Rooster 13-6 on Mirage and 13-3 on Inferno. Germany's Fritz "slaxz-" Dietrich topped M80 with 35 kills on a plus-18 differential.

The all-Brazilian Fluxo squad defeated NRG 13-8 on Nuke and 13-11 on Train. Lucas "Lucaozy" Neves had a team-high 41 kills and plus-11 for Fluxo.

Meanwhile, there were four Round 3 Mid matches. B8 outlasted G2 Esports 2-1; GamerLegion swept Astralis 2-0, including with a 13-0 shutout on their first map, Nuke; 3DMAX defeated HEROIC 2-0; and Legacy did the same to FURIA.

The tournament continues Wednesday with six matches:

Round 4 High:

--GamerLegion vs. B8

--3DMAX vs. ENCE

--Legacy vs. Gentle Mates

Round 4 Low:

--G2 Esports vs. Fluxo

--Astralis vs. HEROIC

--FURIA vs. M80

ESL Pro League Season 22 prize pool:

1. $100,000, TBD

2. $50,000, TBD