EPL S22 Stage 1: Preview

The first stage of ESL Pro League Season 22 is all set to kick off tomorrow with the teams starting their journey towards the ESL Pro League title. Starting on 28th September 2025, Stage 1 will run a Swiss system bo3 across sixteen teams to filter half of them out. Teams with three wins head into the main event and teams with three losses get eliminated. ESL Pro League Season 22 starts on 4th October 2025 and will run for nine days. A similar Swiss system bo3 sends eight teams to a single-elimination bracket playoffs where the winner is crowned after a bo5 grand-final.

Chinese team Lynn Vision and Australian team Rooster are the only Asia-Pacific representatives in the opening round. These two will square up against HEROIC and Astralis in the opening round. Here are the opening round's matches:

Sunday, 28/09/2025

G2, FURIA, 3DMAX, Astralis, Virtus.pro and GamerLegion were handed out invites to the first stage based on their positions in the Global VRS. A flawless upper-bracket run in the Asian closed qualifier booked HOTU's spot at the first stage. Legacy cleared the South American qualifier, M80 cleared the North American qualifier and Inner Circle cleared the European qualifier. Winners of ESL Challenger Leagues across Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania have also received direct entries into the first stage of ESL Pro League Season 22. These teams are Lynn Vision, B8, NRG, Inner Circle and Rooster.

The top eight from Stage 1 will join the elites in the main event. The MongolZ, being #2 in Global VRS have bagged a direct main event invite alongside the likes of Vitality, Spirit, FaZe, Falcons, MOUZ, Aurora and NAVI.

ESL Pro League Season 22 Stage 1

Bo3

HEROIC

1 - 2

Gentle Mates

StatisticsOverview

All maps

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
Yasin 'xfl0ud' Koç	49 - 49	+0	83.9	74.6%	1.09
Simon 'yxngstxr' Boije	38 - 42	-4	67.1	73.1%	1.02
Linus 'nilo' Bergman	50 - 40	+10	68.3	77.6%	1.00
Alimzhan 'Alkaren' Bitimbay	48 - 49	-1	71.0	68.7%	0.95
Linus 'LNZ' Holtäng	27 - 51	-24	54.0	61.2%	0.63

Gentle Mates	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
Pere 'sausol' Solsona Saumell	60 - 45	+15	92.8	77.6%	1.43
Alejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo Cano	55 - 44	+11	80.5	70.1%	1.31
Alejandro 'alex' Masanet	43 - 43	+0	75.9	70.1%	1.04
Antonio 'MartinezSa' Martinez	38 - 44	-6	57.2	71.6%	0.96
David 'dav1g' Granado Bermudo	32 - 42	-10	66.6	77.6%	0.89

Maps

6

Nuke

13

13

Mirage

7

12

Ancient

16

mopoz21 kills

Most kills

mopoz1.62 rating

Best rating

sausol2.07 rating

Best t-side

alex1.85 rating

Best ct-side

Nuke Rounds

xfl0ud18 kills

Most kills

xfl0ud1.62 rating

Best rating

yxngstxr1.45 rating

Best t-side

nilo2.52 rating

Best ct-side

Mirage Rounds

sausol27 kills

Most kills

sausol1.58 rating

Best rating

sausol1.85 rating

Best t-side

yxngstxr1.71 rating

Best ct-side

Ancient Rounds