Sixteen teams entered for 6 places at the upcoming Pro League, and now we know which 6 have got their passes stamped and approved.
The order of play was a double elimination bracket, so each team got a second chance if they didn't make the cut in their first match, however for some fan favorites it wasn't enough to get through, with Illuminar, TYLOO & Sprout some of the more popular well known teams to not make the cut. On the flip side however, it was good news for Eternal Fire, Outsiders, MIBR, FTW, HEET & Endpoint, as they all won the needed matches to be entered into the next season of Pro League, which is anticipated to have a grand prize of at least $150,000 based on past events.
Let's start with MIBR, who had a plain sailing path to qualification, seeing off cowana & TYLOO 2-0, Endpoint, Eternal Fire & Outsiders also qualified without too much challenge. All also going 2-0 in their matches, Endpoint saw off HEET & ORDER, Eternal Fire equally saw off FTW & HUMMER, with finally Outsiders coming across, and roundly defeating, Illuminar & Falcons. So what about HEET & FTW? Well, they had a bit of a bumpy ride, after both were knocked to the lower bracket by one of the previous teams. For HEET, they had to barrage past Encore & HUMMER (both 2-0) before finally coming across Falcons, which was a closer 2-1 deal before HEET were through, lastly to FTW. They had to punch through Sprout (2-1) & ORDER (2-0), before the final challenger approached, Illuminar. Illuminar were able to put up an admirable fight in their 2-1 match, but it was FTW who eventually was the victor.
So when is Pro League Season 16? Good question! It is scheduled to start on August 31st, and run through until October 2nd, for over a month of top tier Counter Strike. Amongst those qualified, aside from the above, are some of the top ranked teams, including Natus Vince, ENCE, Vitality, FaZe & G2. Also appearing will be Liquid, Complexity & Evil Geniuses, all of them will be looking to smoothen out their record, after a disappointing year so far.