MOUZ, Imperial Esports storm back at ESL Pro League Season 20

MOUZ and Imperial Esports both rallied for 2-1 victories on Tuesday in Group C upper-bracket quarterfinal action at the ESL Pro League Season 20 in Saint Julian's, Malta.

MOUZ came from behind to top Rooster while Imperial Esports edged BIG to set up a meeting in the upper-bracket semifinals.

After falling 13-8 on Mirage, MOUZ took Vertigo 19-15 in double overtime and Inferno 13-6. Israel's Dorian "xertioN" Berman led the winning side with 63 kills and a plus-17 kill-death differential.

Santino "try" Rigal of Argentina finished with 45 kills and a plus-12 K-D differential as Imperial Esports responded to a 13-8 loss on Nuke with wins on Mirage (13-4) and Dust II (13-10).

The group stage of the $750,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event split 32 teams into four groups that are competing in triple-elimination brackets, 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 feature best-of-three matches 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.

In other Group C upper-bracket quarterfinal matches on Tuesday, M80 blanked Complexity Gaming 2-0 and Fnatic edged Astralis 2-1.

M80 prevailed 13-6 on Ancient before taking Anubis 13-10.

Fnatic earned a 13-10 win on Vertigo, then dropped a 13-8 decision on Inferno. They bounced back, though, capturing Ancient 13-7.

Group D play also began on Tuesday, with Team Liquid and Virtus.pro completing 2-0 sweeps against ENCE and RED Canids, respectively, in the upper-bracket quarterfinals.

Six matches are scheduled for Wednesday:

--MOUZ vs. Imperial Esports (Group C upper-bracket semifinals)

--M80 vs. Fnatic (Group C upper-bracket semifinals)

--Rooster vs. BIG (Group C mid-bracket Round 1)

--Complexity Gaming vs. Astralis (Group C mid-bracket Round 1)

--Team Vitality vs. ATOX Esports (Group D upper-bracket quarterfinals)

--FURIA Esports vs. Team Falcons (Group D upper-bracket quarterfinals)

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, no points

13-16. $17,500, no points

17-20. $12,000, no points -- Sangal Esports, 3DMAX, two teams TBD

21-28. $7,000, no points -- Ninjas in Pyjamas, FlyQuest, 9z Team, Wildcard, four teams TBD

29-32. $3,500, no points -- Lynn Vision Gaming, KOI, two teams TBD

--Field Level Media