ESL Pro League S23 Playoffs: Preview

Stage 2 of the ESL Pro League Season 23 has come to a close, concluding the online portion of the tournament. The playoffs, starting tomorrow 13th March 2026 will take place on LAN in Stockholm, Sweden. Eight teams have made it through Stage 2 with Spirit and MOUZ clearing the Swiss system iteration 3-0. The MongolZ and G2 just fell short of flawless runs after advancing to the 2-0 pool. While The MongolZ recovered and made it through from 3-1 pool, G2 fumbled a good start to crash out of the event 2-3.

Legacy and Aurora also secured wins in the 2-1 pool alongside The MongolZ, while NAVI, FUT and Astralis took down 3DMAX, G2 and FURIA in the final games of Stage 2 in the 2-2 pool. The playoffs will host a single-elimination best-of-three bracket with a best-of-five grand final. The MongolZ will kick things off against NAVI in the first quarter-final game tomorrow at 02:30 PM IST. In their previous head to head, The MongolZ bested NAVI in the 2-1 pool at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026.

The winner of ESL Pro League Season 23 walks away with $100,000 USD in player prize money and $150,000 USD in club share. The tournament also counts towards the coveted ESL Grand Slam. Here are the quarter-final matchups on the cards for tomorrow:

ESL Pro League Season 23 Finals

Bo3

The MongolZ

0 - 2

Natus Vincere

StatisticsOverview

All maps

The MongolZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
Anarbileg 'cobrazera' Uuganbayar	30 - 32	-2	80.4	75.6%	1.08
Ayush 'mzinho' Batbold	20 - 31	-11	62.9	58.5%	0.82
Usukhbayar '910' Banzragch	26 - 31	-5	65.5	53.7%	0.79
Sodbayar 'Techno' Munkhbold	19 - 30	-11	53.0	65.9%	0.75
Garidmagnai 'bLitz' Byambasuren	19 - 32	-13	62.5	56.1%	0.65

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating 3.0
Drin 'makazze' Shaqiri	43 - 22	+21	115.9	82.9%	1.87
Mihai 'iM' Ivan	33 - 24	+9	87.2	80.5%	1.17
Ihor 'w0nderful' Zhdanov	28 - 19	+9	66.0	78.0%	1.15
Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy	28 - 26	+2	72.9	85.4%	1.13
Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen	22 - 24	-2	66.6	80.5%	0.97

Maps

11

Ancient

13

4

Mirage

13

makazze20 kills

Most kills

makazze1.55 rating

Best rating

makazze1.76 rating

Best t-side

w0nderful1.49 rating

Best ct-side

Ancient Rounds

makazze23 kills

Most kills

makazze2.35 rating

Best rating

iM2.36 rating

Best t-side

makazze2.38 rating

Best ct-side

Mirage Rounds