Vitality, MongolZ power into ESL Pro League Season 21 semis

Team Vitality and The MongolZ cruised through their quarterfinal matches on Friday in ESL Pro League Season 21 at Stockholm.

Vitality downed Team Liquid 2-0, and The MongolZ routed Natus Vincere 2-0.

In the semifinals on Saturday, Vitality will oppose The MongolZ, and MOUZ will face off with Team Spirit.

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 Friday, Vitality got past Liquid 13-9 on Anubis, 13-9 on Dust II. Estonia’s Robin “ropz” Kool paced Vitality with 46 kills and a plus-21 kill-death differential. Australia’s Justin “jks” Savage registered 34 kills and a plus-3 K-D differential for Liquid.

The MongolZ posted a pair of 13-6 wins over Natus Vincere, on Mirage and Ancient. Sodbayar “Techno” Munkhbold produced 36 kills and a plus-15 K-D differential for the all-Mongolian victors. Ukraine’s Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov amassed 32 kills and a plus-8 K-D differential for Natus Vincere.

ESL Pro League Season 21 prize pool

1. $100,000

2. $50,000

3-4. $25,000 — Team Liquid, Natus Vincere

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