ESL Pro League 15: NAVI Advance to Quarterfinals by Dominating Group D
ESL Pro League 15: NAVI Advance to Quarterfinals by Dominating Group D
Natus Vincere have qualified to the quarterfinals of ESL Pro League Season 15. Despite starting the event without their captain, the team managed to place first in Group D and lost just one map while on it.
The roster’s in-game leader Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov was tested positive for COVID-19 right before his flight to Dusseldorf, thus NAVI started the competition with NAVI Junior member Daniil "Headtr1ck" Valitov. With him, the team managed to win their first three matches against AGO (2-0), EG (2-0), and Complexity (2-0). BoombI4 returned to the roster on the group’s fourth day – with him the team defeated Astralis (2-1) and Heroic (2-0).
Group D Results:
| 1. | Natus Vincere | 5-0 | 195-119 | 15p |
| 2. | Heroic | 4-1 | 161-134 | 12p |
| 3. | Astralis | 3-2 | 193-178 | 9p |
| 4. | AGO | 2-3 | 142-178 | 6p |
| 5. | Complexity | 1-4 | 171-189 | 3p |
| 6. | Evil Geniuses | 0-5 | 106-170 | 0p |
Being the winners of their groups, NAVI alongside Movistar Riders, FURIA Esports, and Ninjas in Pyjamas have advanced to the playoffs quarterfinals. Meanwhile the round of 12 will feature the teams who placed 2nd and 3rd in the groups: Heroic will face Liquid, Fnatic will compete with ENCE, Entropiq will play with Astralis, while FaZe will take on Players.
The playoffs stage will start on April 6th and follow a single-elimination format. All regular series will be best-of-three, while the grand finals will be best-of-five. The bracket looks as follows:
ESL Pro League Season 15 takes place in Dusseldorf, Germany and features an $823,000 prize pool. The event will conclude on April 10th with its winner claiming $175,000 in prize money and qualifying for BLAST World Final 2022.