The second stage of ESL Pro League Season 21 has concluded, finalizing the eight playoff teams and eliminating eight others. Most results met expectations, though some surprises stood out, providing excitement and disappointment alike.

Struggling at the bottom

MIBR and TYLOO exited the competition without securing any victories. Although disappointing, TYLOO’s participation significantly boosted their Valve rankings, marking this as a success despite their losses. Both teams showed they were a level below most competitors in Stage 2, reflecting their anticipated struggles against top-tier teams.

SAW's surprising upset

SAW managed only one victory but made headlines by defeating NAVI, an impressive feat considering their difficult matchups against Spirit, G2, and GamerLegion. Newcomers Oscar "AZUWU" Bell and Jan "cej0t" Dyl showed strong individual performances. Their unexpected win against NAVI greatly compensated for their other losses, significantly enhancing their global standing.

Brazilian teams falter: paiN and FURIA

paiN and FURIA had notably disappointing performances. paiN defeated only GamerLegion and alarmingly lost to NAVI on Train, NAVI’s traditionally weakest map. FURIA secured just one victory over MIBR and managed a single map win against Falcons. Both teams demonstrated weak map pools and individual inconsistencies, raising significant concerns about their future prospects in international competitions.

Narrow Misses for 3DMAX and GamerLegion

3DMAX fought hard but narrowly missed playoff qualification. They secured wins against Eternal Fire and Falcons but stumbled against Liquid, notably losing crucial rounds that cost them key maps. Alexandre "bodyy" Pianaro was their standout performer with an impressive individual rating of 6.2. However, inconsistent performances across the team led to critical losses at important moments.

GamerLegion also narrowly missed the playoffs, hindered significantly by the poor performance of their AWPer, Henrich "sl3nd" Hevesi, who recorded a disappointing rating of 5.7. Fredrik "REZ" Sterner stood out positively with a solid rating of 6.3, but his efforts alone were insufficient for playoff qualification.

Falcons’ unfortunate decline

Falcons, directly invited to Stage 2, failed to reach the playoffs due to notably poor individual performances. Nikola "NiKo" Kovač was below expectations, while Abdulkhalik "degster" Gasanov and René "TeSeS" Madsen had notably poor tournaments. Emil "Magisk" Reif attempted to salvage the team's efforts but failed. Falcons only managed to secure wins against Liquid and FURIA, suffering decisive defeats against stronger opponents. A disappointing result after reaching the final of PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025.

Advancing to Playoffs

Liquid, G2, and Eternal Fire progressed with 3-2 records. Liquid’s performances fluctuated widely, marked by surprising losses against Falcons and MOUZ, reflecting a lack of stability. G2 struggled against strong teams but leveraged strong individual performances from Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov and Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa to overcome weaker opponents like paiN, SAW, and GamerLegion.

Eternal Fire was the standout, becoming the only team from Stage 1 to reach playoffs. They maintained consistency, driven by the exceptional performances of Ali "Wicadia" Haydar Yalçın, who notably recorded a remarkable 8.6 rating against MIBR, one of the tournament’s highest individual ratings.

Comfortable qualifiers

The MongolZ, MOUZ, and NAVI advanced comfortably with just one loss each. MOUZ only lost to Vitality, a team dominating the tournament, while The MongolZ fell only to Spirit, another top contender. NAVI recovered strongly after an initial shock defeat to SAW, propelled by outstanding performances from Justinas "jL" Lekavičius and Valerii "b1t" Vakhovskyi, complemented by strong leadership from Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, despite Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov’s continued inconsistencies.

Dominant duo: Spirit and Vitality

Spirit and Vitality stood out most impressively, advancing without dropping a single match. Spirit benefited greatly from outstanding performances by Danil "donk" Kryshkovets and Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov, consistently showcasing exceptional skill. Vitality similarly relied on the dominant Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut and Robin "ropz" Kool, who both delivered superb performances, justifying their positions as favorites.

Playoffs Preview

The playoff stage will take place from March 13-16, with the winning team earning $250,000. Unfortunately, the event does not feature the arena matches, but it does not lower the level of competition as we have seven teams from the top nine in the Valve ranking. The only two top ten teams not in the playoffs are FaZe and Astralis who don’t attend the event.