EU and NA ESL Pro League finalists decided

Eight finalists have qualified to participate at the ESL Pro League LAN Finals in London, UK.

The challenging 9 weeks of heavy competition appeared to fly by for the Ninjas in Pyjamas, and they finished the final week with an impressive 19 out of 22 matches won, making them the most successful team across all regions. They were followed closely by NA’s Luminosity Gaming in second, who were just one match behind with a record of 18 out of 22 games won.

Over in Europe, Fnatic and Astralis earned their places after splitting maps in the the 9th week. This however, left Ukrainian outfit Natus Vincere in a tie breaker scenario they had split maps during their close encounter with G2. With the pair fighting for the final European seed it came down to the total number of rounds won as per the rules of the second tie-breaker condition. With G2 holding a total of 305 rounds won, compared to that of Na’Vi who had amassed only 298, G2 found themselves taking the final spot over the MLG Columbus champions.

Meanwhile, over in the North America, it was Cloud 9 who, despite poor performance in the last few months were able to take the second seed behind Luminosity. C9 made it through with a record of 16 wins and 6 losses after initially seeming to have trouble taking down some of the lower teams in the competition. It must be noted that they also had a tough battle with the fourth finalists Liquid, to whom they lost 0-2.

Barely scraping by the required mark for a guaranteed spot was OpTic, who almost risked being dropped down in the final week with a close battle with NRG. NRG had been victorious in the first map, putting OpTic on the briink as they needed the next game in order to secure their place. On overpass, which happened to be the second map, they were able to pick up 16 rounds, knocking NRG down to a possible spot as 4th seed and putting them in the 3rd seed.

The final seeded position was another closely contested spot with NRG and Liquid both holding a 14-8 record. However, due to the pair having split maps gone to 1-1 when they met it all came down to the amount of regulation rounds won. This was easily won by Liquid who held 76 compared to the 2 of NRG.

It will be the final teams (presented below) that will therefore be attending the O2 arena for a chance at going home with some of the $512,000 prize pool. It should also be noted that both Virtus.Pro and KKona still have a chance to remain in the League as ESL have changed the format, allowing 14 spots. In order to keep their spot, they will have to battle with the second place teams from the Premier Division.

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