Team Vitality move on to playoff quarterfinals at ESL Pro League Season 20

Team Vitality punched their ticket to the playoff quarterfinals on Sunday, rallying for a 2-1 win over Team Liquid in the Group D upper-bracket final at the ESL Pro League Season 20 in Saint Julian's, Malta.

After Team Liquid prevailed 13-10 on Anubis to open the match, Team Vitality responded with victories on Nuke (13-5) and Dust II (13-9) to complete a perfect run through the group stage. Israel's Lotan "Spinx" Giladi led the winners with 53 kills and a plus-13 kill-death differential.

Entering Sunday, Team Vitality had not dropped a map in Group D play, recording 2-0 sweeps against ATOX Esports and FURIA Esports to reach the upper-bracket final.

FURIA Esports fell all the way into the lower bracket, but they blanked RED Canids 2-0 in Sunday's final to land in the playoffs. FURIA took Anubis 13-7 and Nuke 13-9, getting 39 kills and a plus-20 K-D differential from Brazilian Yuri "yuurih" Santos.

In Group C, Complexity Gaming defeated MOUZ 2-0 in the lower-bracket final. Complexity earned a 13-8 win on Vertigo, then edged MOUZ 13-10 on Ancient. Ricky "floppy" Kemery of the United States finished with 35 kills and 23 deaths in the victory.

The group stage of the $750,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event split 32 teams into four groups that competed in triple-elimination brackets, with each match best-of-three. The top four teams from each group moved into the playoff bracket.

Group winners advanced straight into the playoff quarterfinals. Runners-up advanced to the Round of 12, third-place teams moved 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 next Sunday.

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

Playoff action begins Tuesday with the four Round of 16 matches:

--BIG vs. The MongolZ

--Virtus.pro vs. HEROIC

--FaZe Clan vs. Complexity Gaming

--Team Spirit vs. FURIA Esports

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, MOUZ, RED Canids

21-28. $7,000, no points -- Ninjas in Pyjamas, FlyQuest, 9z Team, Wildcard, Fnatic, Astralis, Team Falcons, ATOX Esports

29-32. $3,500, no points -- Lynn Vision Gaming, KOI, Rooster, ENCE

--Field Level Media