The MongolZ among four winners as ESL Pro League 20 playoffs begin

The MongolZ, HEROIC, Complexity Gaming and Team Spirit survived and advanced to the Round of 12 at the ESL Pro League Season 20 on Tuesday in Saint Julian's, Malta.

The MongolZ dropped a triple-overtime first map against BIG before rallying to a 2-1 victory in their Round of 16 match. The other three matches were 2-0 sweeps, with HEROIC beating Virtus.pro, Complexity defeating FaZe Clan and Team Spirit toppling FURIA Esports.

The group stage of the $750,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event divided 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 started in the Round of 16 as low seeds.

The single-elimination playoff bracket features best-of-three matches until the best-of-five grand final Sunday.

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

On Tuesday, BIG rallied from an early 10-4 deficit on Ancient and forced overtime with The MongolZ. BIG scored six of the final seven points on that map to finally win 22-19. But The MongolZ responded by taking Nuke 13-11 and Mirage 13-9 to complete the comeback.

Usukhbayar "910" Banzragch of Mongolia led the winning side with 74 kills and a plus-22 kills-to-deaths differential.

HEROIC defeated Virtus.pro 13-8 on Ancient and 13-6 on Dust II. Rasmus "sjuush" Beck of Denmark led the way for HEROIC with 40 kills and a plus-14 K-D.

Complexity edged FaZe Clan 13-10 on Anubis and 13-9 on Dust II. Michael "Grim" Wince of the U.S. put up 33 kills on a plus-5 to lead Complexity.

Spirit beat FURIA 13-9 on Nuke and 13-11 on Anubis, guided by Russian Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov's 38 kills and plus-14 differential.

The playoffs continue Wednesday with the four Round of 12 matches:

--Eternal Fire vs. The MongolZ

--MIBR vs. HEROIC

--Team Liquid vs. Complexity Gaming

--Imperial Esports vs. Team Spirit

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 -- BIG, Virtus.pro, FaZe Clan, FURIA Esports

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