{"id":21870,"date":"2025-02-24T15:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T15:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/?p=21870"},"modified":"2025-02-24T15:00:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T15:00:06","slug":"esl-pro-league-season-21-play-in-overview-teams-format-favorites-and-underdogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/news\/cs-2\/esl-pro-league-season-21-play-in-overview-teams-format-favorites-and-underdogs\/","title":{"rendered":"ESL Pro League Season 21 Play-In Overview: Teams, Format, Favorites and Underdogs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ESL Pro League<\/strong> is an S-Tier LAN tournament with a prize pool of <strong>$400,000<\/strong>. There are 24 teams featured in total, 16 being in the Play-In stage, fighting for the eight spots in the Main stage. The Play-In stage<strong> <\/strong>kicks off<strong> <\/strong>on<strong> March 1<\/strong> and will continue unti<strong>l March 5<\/strong>. Here\u2019s everything you need to know, such as tournament format, team list, and how to watch to cheer for your favorite team!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tournament Format<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>16 Team Swiss System Format<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>All matches are Bo3<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Play-In Teams<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/eslproteams.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21873\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/eslproteams.webp 1024w, https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/eslproteams-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/eslproteams-768x432.webp 768w, https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/eslproteams-150x84.webp 150w, https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/eslproteams-450x253.webp 450w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">ESL Pro League Season 21 &#8211; Teams<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td>Eternal Fire<\/td><td>HEROIC<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>3DMAX<\/td><td>FURIA<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>MIBR<\/td><td>FlyQuest<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>paiN<\/td><td>GamerLegion<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>M80<\/td><td>Nemiga<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>SAW<\/td><td>NRG<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Lynn Vision<\/td><td>TyLoo<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Mindfreak<\/td><td>Housebets<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">ESL Pro League Season 21 Play-In Teams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Favorites and Underdogs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Among those teams, we think it would be fair to call <strong>HEROIC <\/strong>and <strong>Eternal Fire <\/strong>favorites to take their spots on the Main stage<strong>. Also<\/strong>, teams like <strong>FURIA<\/strong>, <strong>3DMAX<\/strong>, <strong>FlyQuest<\/strong>, <strong>paiN, and MIBR will all<\/strong> have some advantage against the rest of the teams.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the underdogs and dark horses, it might be <strong>Lynn Vision<\/strong>, who recently changed one of their core players. We are yet to see how it goes. It would be good to see a Chinese team making it to the Main Stage so that there is more of a mix of regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Watch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>ESL Pro League <\/strong>Play-In stage will be streamed live for viewers worldwide. Whether you\u2019re at home, at work, or on the go, you can enjoy every thrilling moment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.twitch.tv\/ESLCS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ESL Pro League Primary Twitch Stream<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.twitch.tv\/ESLCSb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ESL Pro League Secondary Twitch Stream<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/ESLCS\/streams\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ESL Pro League YouTube Stream<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>ESL Pro League <\/strong>Main stage will start on March 7, two days after the Play-In stage ends. We will overview it as soon as the Play-In stage is over and all the teams are figured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Keep up with our coverage for more insights on the latest esports news and updates.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview ESL Pro League is an S-Tier LAN tournament with a prize pool of $400,000. There are 24 teams featured in total, 16 being in the Play-In stage, fighting for the eight spots in the Main stage. The Play-In stage kicks off on March 1 and will continue until March 5. Here\u2019s everything you need<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":21872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,247],"class_list":{"0":"post-21870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cs-2","8":"tag-cs2","9":"tag-cs2-tournaments"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21874,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21870\/revisions\/21874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}