ESL Pro League Season 22 playoffs preview

The ESL Pro League Season 22 Stage 2 concluded on October 8 with Natus Vincere, 3DMAX, and FaZe Clan securing the final spots in the playoffs.

The playoffs will kick off on Friday, October 10, and conclude on Sunday, October 12. Here’s how the teams have done so far in the tournament, what to expect of the quarterfinals, and the CS2 odds for each match-up.

Falcons vs. 3DMAX

kyousuke can definitely help Falcons go far in the ESL Pro League Season 22 playoffs. Credit: Helena Kristiansson | © ESL

Falcons’ problem, since adding Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin, is to make it past the semifinals. They’re usually good for the quarterfinals, barring their weak start at IEM Cologne 2025. The team have, on paper, more firepower than any other CS2 team, but Danny “zonic” Sørensen and Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski haven’t found out to unlock the full potential just yet.

Perhaps, they are about to do it, as Falcons took down Astralis, NAVI, and MOUZ to advance to the ESL Pro League Season 22 playoffs with a perfect 3-0 record. Another good sign is that Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov is back on form and will start the playoffs as the highest-rated player of the tournament.

As for 3DMAX, they’re doing just fine in CS2, given their budget and the option to stay loyal to France and field an all-French team at a time most organizations have turned their eyes to international talent. In this edition of ESL Pro League, they beat three good teams in FaZe, NAVI, and G2 to qualify for the playoffs, and lost to FURIA and MOUZ along the way.

As far as head-to-head concerns, 3DMAX are ahead of Falcons 2-1, having defeated them at…ESL Pro League Season 21. But that was in March, and Falcons had not signed either Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov or kyousuke yet.

So, in short, Falcons are simply clear favorites against 3DMAX.

• Match time: Friday, October 10 at 10:30 AM CET
• GG.BET Odds: Falcons (1.18)

MOUZ vs. NAVI

Aleksib recently led NAVI to win StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2025, but can he do it again in a tier-one tournament? Credit: Helena Kristiansson | © ESL

Just like in almost every other tournament this season, MOUZ kept their reputation of group stage merchants, as they advanced to the playoffs with victories over GamerLegion, Gentle Mates, and 3DMAX. A loss to Falcons prevented them from securing a 3-0 record.

NAVI had a more tumultuous pathway to the ESL Pro League Season 22 playoffs, as they started with a victory over Aurora, but found themselves on the brink of elimination following losses to Falcons and 3DMAX. Ultimately, they prevailed and secured playoffs by beating HOTU and most notably, The MongolZ, a top-three CS2 team in the world.

This victory over The MongolZ could give NAVI the confidence they are missing since the start of the year. They’ve shown in the past that they’re good enough to be a title contender, but they never recovered their prime form from 2024, when they won the PGL Copenhagen Major.

But, all things considered, it’s hard not to pick MOUZ as favorites, as they have been consistently making finals or semifinals all year. Additionally, they are 11-8 ahead of NAVI in head-to-head comparison.

• Match time: Friday, October 10 at 1 PM CET
• GG.BET Odds: MOUZ (1.58)

Spirit vs. FaZe Clan

Roster restrictions forced FaZe to give rain his Last Dance with the team. Credit: Helena Kristiansson | © ESL

Spirit breezed past Stage 2 of ESL Pro League Season 22 with wins over Inner Circle, HOTU, and G2. FaZe, on the other hand, had to reinstate Håvard “rain” Nygaard to the active lineup to be able to play the tournament and had to work hard to qualify for the quarterfinals. They started the tournament 0-2 and beat Astralis, Inner Circle, and Aurora to lock in the playoffs.

Considering that Spirit are in better form in general, not only in ESL Pro League, it seems logical that they’re the favorites against FaZe. The Russian team also have a clear advantage over FaZe, according to head-to-head data. Spirit won 14 maps against FaZe and only lost three.

However, both teams have changed their lineups since Spirit beat FaZe the last time they played, which was at BLAST Open Lisbon 2025 in March. Spirit replaced Boris “magixx” Vorobiev and Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia with Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovic and Ivan “zweih” Gogin ever since, while FaZe still had Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski on their ranks instead of Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken.

Still, if Danil “donk” Kryshkovets shows up in full force, Spirit should prevail over FaZe.

• Match time: Friday, October 10 at 3:30 PM CET
• GG.BET odds: Spirit (1.27)

FURIA vs. Vitality

ApEX is still figuring out how to bring Vitality back to the top after their phenomenal run in the first half of the year. Credit: Helena Kristiansson | © ESL

Had this matchup taken place months ago, Vitality would undoubtely be the favorites. But Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and co. are in a slump of some sort, as they have not won anything after all the silverware in the first half of 2025, which included IEM Katowice, the BLAST.tv Austin Major, and the ESL Grand Slam.

FURIA, differently, are clearly on the rise since the additions of Danil “molodoy” Golubenko and Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis ahead of the Austin Major. The duo brought the Brazilian team back to life after horrendous months and even helped FURIA win FISSURE Playground 2, their first tier-one tournament, last month.

Vitality and FURIA’s road to the ESL Pro League Season 22 playoffs were similar. The former beat GamerLegion, HOTU, and G2 after losing their opening match to Gentle Mates. The latter defeated 3DMAX, Inner Circle, and Aurora, and lost one series to G2.

Even though Vitality have a 5-0 map record against FURIA, little does it matter, as FURIA are clearly in a better moment.

• Match time: Friday, October 10 at 6 PM CET
• GG.BET odds: FURIA (2.81)

Feature image credit: © StarLadder