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Winning in the S-Tier (prestigious tournament rank amongst the eSports community) EPL can help teams earn a ticket to the next IEM event. Teams that don’t typically get the opportunity to face some of the top-notch teams in the world can now do so thanks to EPL events, whose format got revamped after the pandemic when all regional leagues—Asia, Oceania, Europe, and the Americas—were eliminated and combined into a single league. Although winning isn’t always easy or feasible for such teams, there’s a chance.

Besides the EPL, the CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21 is also a part of the Intel Grand Slam Season 5. The Intel Grand Slam is a $1,000,000 reward given to the first team to win four S-Tier events run by ESL in a 10-event span (from IEM Rio 2023 to IEM Chengdu 2025), which includes the IEM series and ESL-run CS Major Championship. The players are those to receive this prize straight.

Let’s not forget to mention that the organizer of the CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21 is the ESL (Electronic Sports League), the world’s biggest eSports organization now.

Where and When Will the CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21 Be Held?

The CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21 is scheduled to take place between March 1 and March 16. Twenty-four teams, half of which were invited based on the Valve Regional Standings (VRS), will play in the competition.

Even though the EPL has expanded to other locations ever since the events are scheduled around Valve’s (the CS2 developer) Major tournament system, this is going to be the first EPL outside of Malta since Season 15. The CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21 will be held in Stockholm, Sweden, this time; more specifically, in the ESL Studio. And we’re talking about the venue for the Playoffs.

Regardless of the fact that the CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21 is an S-Tier event in terms of eSports tournament rankings, the EPL has a special ranking within the ESL Pro Tour (EPT), which is the EPT Masters, and it’s a second tier following the EPT Championship but is higher than the EPT

Challengers.
The US$1 million prize pool is what 24 teams and players have available combined. The ESL Pro League prize pool has never been the largest in eSports, but this is the first time since Season 2 that it has dropped to as low as US$400,000 for players. The remaining sum of US$600,000 belongs to the clubs. This is a result of ESL allocating a larger portion of the total EPT prize pools to others with comparable value.
This is how the prize money will be distributed:

Which Teams Will Take Part in the CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21?

G2 Esports

1

huNter-

2

NiKo

3

m0NESY

4

Snax

G2 Esports

Team Spirit

1

Satanic

2

Larl

3

Collapse

4

rue

5

Miposhka

6

Malik

Team Spirit

The MongolZ

1

bLitz

2

Techno4K

3

910

4

mzinho

5

Senzu

6

maaRaa

The MongolZ

Team Vitality

1

apEX

2

ZywOo

3

Spinx

4

flameZ

5

mezii

6

XTQZZZ

Team Vitality

MOUZ

1

torzsi

2

xertioN

3

siuhy

4

Jimpphat

5

Brollan

6

sycrone

MOUZ

Natus Vincere

1

b1t

2

Aleksib

3

jL

4

iM

5

w0nderful

6

B1ad3

Natus Vincere

Team Falcons

1

skiter

2

Malr1ne

3

ATF

4

Cr1t-

5

Sneyking

Team Falcons

Team Liquid

1

NAF

2

YEKINDAR

3

Twistzz

4

ultimate

5

jks

6

mithR

Team Liquid

FURIA Esports

1

yuurih

2

KSCERATO

3

FalleN

4

chelo

5

skullz

6

sidde

FURIA Esports

3DMAX

1

Lucky

2

Djoko

3

Ex3rcice

4

Maka

5

Graviti

6

wasiNk

3DMAX

Eternal Fire

1

RuerN

2

TheMad

3

CodeMarco

4

Quetpa

Eternal Fire

GamerLegion

1

volt

2

sl3nd

3

aNdu

4

FL4MUS

5

ztr

6

ashhh

GamerLegion

FlyQuest

1

INS

2

aliStair

3

Liazz

4

Vexite

5

dexter

6

erkaSt

FlyQuest

HEROIC

1

TeSeS

2

sjuush

3

NertZ

4

kyxsan

5

degster

HEROIC

TYLOO

1

Ninebody

2

hfmi0dzjc9z7

3

Eren

4

slowly

5

5CM

TYLOO

paiN Gaming

1

biguzera

2

lux

3

kauez

4

nqz

5

snow

6

rikz

paiN Gaming

MIBR

1

exit

2

brnz4n

3

insani

4

drop

5

saffee

6

nak

MIBR

Load more

The top eight teams in the VRS as of January 6, 2025, advance straight to Stage 2. Teams in the VRS placed 9th–12th, the regional champions and runners-up of the ESL Challenger League (ECL) Season 48, and the winners of ECL Atlanta 2024 and ECL Katowice 2024 are among the 16 teams that will begin their trip in Stage 1.

Teams going directly to Stage 2:

• G2 Esports (VRS Rank 1)
• Team Spirit (VRS Rank 2)
• The MongolZ (VRS Rank 3)
• Team Vitality (VRS Rank 4)
• MOUZ (VRS Rank 6)
• Natus Vincere (VRS Rank 7)
• Team Falcons (invited on the basis of acquiring an almost full roster of HEROIC /VRS Rank 8/)
• Team Liquid (VRS Rank 9; took the final Stage 2 invite slot after FaZe Clan /VRS Rank 5/ declined their invite)

Stage 1 teams:

• FURIA Esports (VRS Rank 10)
• paiN gaming (VRS Rank 11)
• MIBR (VRS Rank 12)
• 3DMAX (VRS Rank 13)
• Eternal Fire (VRS Rank 14)
• GamerLegion (VRS Rank 15; got an invitation as the final team via VRS going to Stage 1 after FaZe withdrew and Liquid got invited instead)
• HEROIC (invited on the basis of acquiring most of the roster of Sangal Esports /qualified as the winners of the ESL Challenger League Season 48: Europe/)
• Nemiga Gaming (the runners-up of the ESL Challenger League Season 48: Europe)
• M80 (the winners of the ESL Challenger League Season 48: North America)
• NRG (the runners-up of the ESL Challenger League Season 48: North America)
• TYLOO (the winners of the ESL Challenger League Season 48: Asia)
• Lynn Vision (the runners-up of the ESL Challenger League Season 48: Asia)
• FlyQuest (the winners of the ESL Challenger at DreamHack Atlanta 2024)
• Mindfreak (got the invitation as the runners-up of the ESL Challenger League Season 48: Oceania, given that FlyQuest were invited as the winners of the ESL Atlanta 2024)
• Housebets (got the invitation as the third-placed at the ESL Challenger League Season 48: Oceania, given that the region needed one more slot)
• SAW (the winners of the ESL Challenger Katowice 2024)

The CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21 is organized in three stages:

Stage 1 (March 1-5, online)

• 16-team Swiss group
• All matches Bo3
• Top-8 teams advance to Stage 2

Stage 2 (March 7-11, online)

• 16-team Swiss group
• All matches Bo3
• Top-8 teams advance to Playoffs

Playoffs (March 13-16, LAN)

• 8-team Single-Elimination bracket
• Quarterfinals & Semifinals Bo3
• Grand Final Bo5

In order to generate seeds and the initial matchups in Stages 1 and 2, Team Selected Seeding will establish the baseline ratings. Live Ratings, which are continuously updated following every match, will be used for all other Swiss rounds. The outcomes of Stage 2 and the associated Live Ratings will be used to determine Playoff seeding, breaking any ties (e.g. the two teams with a 3-0 record).

Who’ll Win the CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21?

Below you can see the pros and cons of the title favorites. Let’s just say that VRS isn’t there for nothing, so the top teams from there are the biggest favorites to win the CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21.

Although there are many different EPL betting sites, we have made the effort to create a list of the best ones. High-value odds, betting markets, quick payouts, and other considerations were taken into account when doing this. The best EPL betting sites are listed on the CS2 eSport betting page, along with links to read our eSports experts’ reviews.

Pros and Cons of the CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21 Favorites

Features of the CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21

It’s evident from everything we’ve already written that the CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21 has a new format:

• Double Swiss System: Two Major-style Swiss group stages will be used in the competition, providing a more exciting and competitive route to the playoffs.
• 8-team Playoffs: To guarantee that only the most reliable teams advance to the final stages, the top-performing teams from the Swiss stages will advance to a single-elimination bracket.

This format modification ensures high-stakes matches throughout the tournament and responds to previous complaints about drawn-out group stages.

In September 2024, the ESL Pro League’s 20th season attracted a record-breaking viewership of around 820,000 at the peak.

Five teams are tied on the all-time list for most titles in the EPL, with two each: Fnatic, Astralis, NAVI, FaZe, and MOUZ.

The primary English-commentary streams for CS2: ESL Pro League Season 21 will be launched on ESL’s Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/ESLCS) and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/ESLCS/streams) channels.