MOUZ, Spirit advance to ESL Pro League Season 21 semis

MOUZ came from behind for a 2-1 quarterfinal victory over G2 Esports at the ESL Pro League Season 21 on Thursday in Stockholm.

Next up for MOUZ will be a semifinal matchup against Team Spirit, who edged Eternal Fire 2-1.

The other two quarterfinal matches are scheduled for Friday, with Team Vitality set to oppose Team Liquid before Natus Vincere clash with The MongolZ.

The $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament seeded eight of its 24 teams straight into Group Stage 2. The other 16 teams began in Group Stage 1, which featured a Swiss system format of best-of-three matches. The top eight teams then advanced to Group Stage 2, which also employed a Swiss system format of best-of-three matches.

Eight teams advanced from Group Stage 2 to the single-elimination playoffs. The quarterfinals and semifinals are best-of-three before the best-of-five grand final on Sunday. The winning team will receive $100,000.

On Thursday, G2 Esports captured Inferno 13-11 before MOUZ claimed Nuke 13-8 and Ancient 13-11.

Finland’s Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo paced MOUZ with 53 kills and a plus-11 kill-death differential. Russia’s Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov recorded 61 kills and a plus-18 K-D differential for G2 Esports.

Team Spirit pulled out a 19-15 double-overtime win on Nuke before Eternal Fire pulled level with a 13-10 victory on Anubis. On the decisive third map, Mirage, Team Spirit prevailed 13-7.

Ukraine’s Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia amassed 57 kills and a plus-9 K-D differential for Team Spirit. Samet “jottAAA” Koklu produced 57 kills and a plus-11 K-D differential for the all-Turkish Eternal Fire squad.

ESL Pro League Season 21 prize pool

1. $100,000

2. $50,000

3-4. $25,000

5-8. $18,000 — G2 Esports, Eternal Fire, two more teams TBD

9-11. $13,500 — Team Falcons, 3DMax, GamerLegion

12-14. $10,500 — paiN Gaming, SAW, FURIA

15-16. $8,500 — MIBR, TYLOO

17-19. $6,500 — FlyQuest, M80, Nemiga Gaming

20-22. $4,500 — HEROIC, Lynn Vision Gaming, NRG

23-24. $3,000 — Housebets, Mindfreak

–Field Level Media