ESL Pro League S22 Playoff Bracket Announced
ESL Pro League S22 Playoff Bracket Announced
The ESL Pro League Season 22 is now entering its climax: following the conclusion of the Swiss-stage group phase, the playoff bracket has been officially set.
Playoff Teams & Format
Three teams booked their playoff spots by winning their 2–2 decider matches: Natus Vincere, 3DMAX, and FaZe.
The eight-team, single-elimination playoff stage (with best-of-three matches, except the Grand Final which is best-of-five) begins on October 10, with the semi-finals, a 3rd-place decider, and the Grand Final concluding by October 12.
Here is the full playoff schedule:
| Date | Match | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Oct | 3DMAX vs Falcons | Opening quarter-final |
| 10 Oct | MOUZ vs Natus Vincere | Rematch of a previous meeting this year |
| 10 Oct | FaZe vs Spirit | FaZe’s final chance to extend “rain’s” run |
| 10 Oct | FURIA vs Vitality | FURIA enters fresh off a recent tournament victory |
| 11 Oct | Semi-final #1 | — |
| 11 Oct | Semi-final #2 | — |
| 12 Oct | 3rd-place decider | Bo3 format |
| 12 Oct | Grand Final | Best-of-five match |
The overall prize pool for ESL Pro League S22 is USD 1,000,000, of which USD 400,000 is allocated to players and USD 600,000 to the clubs.
Context & Notable Stories
FaZe’s Clutch Entry
One of the most remarkable stories entering playoffs is FaZe’s turnaround. After a shaky start (0–2), they managed to fight back to a 3–2 record and clinch the final playoff spot by beating Aurora in a tight decider on Dust2.
On that decisive map, rain (Håvard “rain” Nygaard) pulled off several solo plays, including a double kill with a Five-SeveN near Long and a push through smoke on the A bombsite, helping FaZe escape elimination.
Falcons & m0NESY
From the Falcons side, the team performed strongly in the group stage and secured their playoff berth. IGL kyxsan (Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski) commented on their internal approach, especially regarding communication and role clarity. He also spoke about m0NESY (Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov) returning to form, saying that they insisted he retain his previous creative freedom:
“We made sure m0NESY understood that he still has this freedom from before.”
kyxsan also acknowledged ongoing challenges in avoiding overlapping calls in mid-round communication, especially in advantageous scenarios.
Twistzz & the Rain Replacement Narrative
Another interesting subplot concerns Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken, who joined FaZe prior to this season. In a recent interview, he addressed whether his arrival was always intended to replace rain:
“People may have thought otherwise (laughs), but yeah. In the early talks, it was like that.”
Twistzz noted that some of the confusion stems from VRS rules (the ruleset under the tournament organizer VRS) which impose restrictions and can make roster changes appear more complicated than they are.
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