Stake Pulse Beat II playoffs: Astralis lead the rankings, but Betclic return as defending champions

The 16-team field at Stake Pulse Beat II is down to six. HEROIC survived fnatic in three maps and 100 Thieves swept BBL earlier on Friday; Astralis face defending champions Betclic next, followed by JiJieHao against Sangal. The four quarter-final winners advance to Saturday’s single-elimination finish in Stockholm.

Astralis are the highest-ranked team still in contention at No. 11 in the September 21 HLTV world ranking. That makes them the leading contender on ranking alone, but the draw offers a more complicated test: their first playoff opponent won the inaugural Pulse Beat in August. None of the eight quarter-finalists were ranked inside HLTV’s top 10, so this event is a chance for teams immediately below that level to turn a deep LAN run into something tangible.

The $60,000 tournament runs from September 21–26. Four best-of-three GSL groups produced two playoff teams apiece; the playoffs are single elimination, with best-of-three quarter-finals, semi-finals and grand final. First place receives $20,000. The event also carries Valve Regional Standings value, particularly relevant with the November 2 cutoff for the PGL Major Singapore approaching.

The playoff field, measured against the September 21 ranking

Ranks are from HLTV’s September 21 world ranking, the latest weekly list before the playoffs. Group finishes and Friday’s results are from HLTV’s event coverage and results.

The gap between first and last in that table is striking, but group play has already challenged a simple ranking order. Sangal, the lowest-ranked survivor, took a map from Astralis before recovering from another one-map deficit to eliminate FOKUS. Betclic lost to JiJieHao in Group D, then beat Eternal Fire to keep their title defence alive. Those results make both remaining quarter-finals more interesting than their ranking gaps suggest.

Astralis have the ranking edge; Betclic have the trophy

Astralis earned their direct playoff place with a 2–1 win over Sangal and a 2–0 sweep of FOKUS. Their lineup of HooXi, phzy, jabbi, Staehr and ryu has the highest HLTV position in the bracket. The Sangal opener supplied both a warning and a positive sign: Astralis lost the first map in overtime, then recovered, with ryu posting a 1.67-rated series. Staehr was prominent in the subsequent sweep of FOKUS. Across the past three months, HLTV lists Staehr at a 1.18 Rating 3.0 over 41 maps and ryu at 1.09 over the same number of maps. Those figures describe sustained output; ryu’s Sangal series shows how high his ceiling can be on a given day.

Betclic have a different case. The Polish team beat Liquid 2–1 in the first Pulse Beat final on August 5, recovering from an opening loss on Cache to win Anubis and Nuke. They return with Demho, Prism, ex1st, ultimate and Qlocuu, but their route through Group D was uneven: JiJieHao swept them before they beat Eternal Fire 2–1 in the decider. Astralis have been more convincing in this event and sit 38 ranking places higher. Betclic, however, have already shown they can finish a run at this particular LAN series.

That sets up the most consequential remaining quarter-final. An Astralis win would send the highest-ranked entrant through to meet 100 Thieves. A Betclic win would remove the ranking favorite and keep a second consecutive Pulse Beat title in reach.

HEROIC and 100 Thieves have booked Saturday places in different ways

HEROIC were the cleanest Group B team, beating Johnny Speeds and BBL 2–0. Friday demanded more. fnatic won their Cache pick 13–8, but HEROIC answered 13–11 on Mirage and closed Inferno 13–6. That gives the Swedish-ranked side a semi-final place, though the narrow middle map is a reminder that an unbeaten group record did not guarantee an easy playoff series. HEROIC’s current five are Brollan, nilo, susp, MartinezSa and Chr1zN.

100 Thieves’ first knockout match was shorter. After beating EAC 2–0 and Phantom 2–1 to top Group C, device, rain, Gizmy, sirah and poiii defeated BBL 13–9 on Cache and 13–9 on Mirage. They now await Astralis or Betclic in Saturday’s first semi-final. Their Cache win matters in context: it came on BBL’s pick, before 100 Thieves closed the series on their own.

The possible Astralis–100 Thieves semi-final would add a clear individual storyline. device now plays for 100 Thieves against the organization with which he is so closely associated. It remains a possible matchup until Astralis get past Betclic; the bracket has already fixed 100 Thieves’ place in it.

JiJieHao’s clean group run meets Sangal’s resilience

JiJieHao enter the last scheduled quarter-final with two Group D sweeps, over Eternal Fire and Betclic. At No. 29, they are the second-highest-ranked quarter-finalist after Astralis. Their lineup is m1N1, sinnopsyy, Bibu, CacaNito and 0SAMAS. Beating the defending champions 2–0 gives JiJieHao the strongest direct result of the two teams in this matchup, although a new series will be decided by a fresh veto and performance rather than group records.

Sangal’s path has been less tidy and arguably more revealing. They swept Sashi, pushed Astralis to three maps and then beat FOKUS 2–1 in the decider after trailing by a map. Their No. 85 ranking makes them the clearest upset candidate left in the field, but their playoff place is supported by results against the same opposition Astralis faced. For adamS, bnox, puuha, R4DYX and Joey, the task now is to turn recovery within a series into a complete knockout win against a higher-ranked group winner.

Vetoes leave room for a lower-ranked finalist

This event uses Cache, Dust2, Mirage, Inferno, Nuke, Ancient and Anubis. Friday’s completed quarter-finals illustrated how quickly the veto can shape a series. fnatic won their Cache pick against HEROIC but could not take Mirage or Inferno; BBL picked Cache against 100 Thieves and lost it. Those are verified outcomes, not proof that either team has a broader weakness on Cache. They do show why winning an opponent’s selection can matter more than a pre-match ranking difference in a best-of-three elimination bracket.

Betclic and Sangal still have routes through the lower-ranked half of their respective matchups. Betclic can draw on a recent LAN title, while Sangal have already taken a map from the field’s highest-ranked side. JiJieHao, meanwhile, have the opportunity to convert an undefeated group campaign into a semi-final. The evidence supports those distinct cases; it does not support treating all three as equal title favorites.

The remaining schedule

All remaining playoff matches are scheduled as best-of-three series. The second semi-final’s teams depend on the outstanding quarter-final and HEROIC’s place in the bracket.

Astralis–Betclic is the immediate test of the tournament’s hierarchy: the world No. 11 against the team that won the previous edition. By the end of Friday, Stockholm will know whether the highest-ranked side or the defending champion gets the chance to stop 100 Thieves.