Lynn Vision miss out on EPL S23 slot

After handing out invites based on January's Valve Regional Standings update, ESL has confirmed the final list of participants for ESL Pro League Season 23. Their top 10 placement, nets The MongolZ a direct Stage 2 slot alongside FURIA, Spirit, FaZe, B8, Aurora, MOUZ and NAVI. With just the playoffs taking place on LAN, Vitality and Falcons have both declined their invites. However, both these teams will take part in PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026 which ends a week before the first stage of ESL Pro League Season 23 begins.

Lynn Vision who withdrew from ESL Pro League Season 22 after deadline passed, were handed a single ESL Pro Tour event ban at the time and as a result will miss out on an ESL Pro League Season 23 invite. Their wildcard invite (ECL Season 50 Asia winner) gets converted to a Global VRS invite as FUT Esports take Lynn Vision's slot.

Sitting right outside the invite range, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Passion.UA were handed invites after Vitality and Falcons declined their invites. The roster lock is set for 15th February 2026 and the first stage begins on 27th February 2026. The two-phase group stage will take place online, each hosting a sixteen-team Swiss system iteration to send the upper half into the next stage.

The playoffs will run on LAN in Stockholm from 13th to 15th March 2026. A single-elimination Bo3 bracket concluding with a Bo5 grand-final determines the winner.