Elisa Masters Espoo reaches playoffs

After a busy two-day group stage, six teams remain alive in Finland.

The Elisa Masters Espoo group stage has drawn to a close, giving way to the playoffs where six teams are set to battle it out for the trophy, the lion's share of the $200,000 prize pool, and an IEM Katowice 2023 Play-In spot, starting on Friday.

Group A kicked off the tournament on Wednesday and served no surprises regarding the advancing teams, with the three favorites advancing to the playoffs. Group B served up a much more unexpected outcome, with 500 progressing at the expense of two top 25 teams in Bad News Eagles and Complexity.

The results now set up Friday's quarter-final matchups between BIG and 500 on one side of the bracket, while ENCE and Astralis will meet in the other quarter-final. The first-placed teams of each group in Sprout and fnatic await their opponents in the semi-final stage, set to be played on Saturday.

blameF is the highest-rated player of the group stage with a 1.40 rating

Results in Group A went according to expectations, with Sprout, ENCE, and BIG passing through the group. Sprout finished on top, meaning they skip the quarter-final and qualify directly for the last four, where they will play the winner between BIG and 500.

ENCE placed second courtesy of an inferior head-to-head record against Sprout, with Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali and company beating them in a close 19-16 game. The final playoff team from Group A is BIG, who are once again playing with an incomplete roster after their AWPer Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische tested positive for COVID-19. The German team advanced nonetheless, sporting a 3-2 record in the group.

Group A TEAM M P Sprout 5 12 ENCE 5 12 BIG 5 9 HEET 5 6 GamerLegion 5 6 HAVU 5 0

Group B proved to be much more open, with Astralis and Complexity battling for the last playoff spot in the final round. The Danes prevailed with a 19-17 win on Nuke and joined fnatic and 500 in the playoffs. Major quarter-finalists fnatic lost just one game in the group, taking the number one spot and a place in the semi-final, despite fielding academy player Peppe "⁠Peppzor⁠" Borak in place of Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson. Surprise of the tournament 500 placed second in the group with the same 4-1 record, due to having a worse head-to-head against fnatic. The Bulgarian side is now set to face BIG in the quarters.

Astralis, who employed Kristoffer "⁠Kristou⁠" Aamand as a substitute for Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz, needed a massive performance by Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer to secure third place in the group. The 25-year-old put up a tournament-high 1.40 rating, his best performance coming in the final round against Complexity when he amassed 40 kills.

Group B TEAM M P fnatic 5 12 500 5 12 Astralis 5 9 Complexity 5 6 Bad News Eagles 5 3 SAW 5 3

The playoffs kick off on November 18, and will have the following matchups:

Date	Matches
Elisa Masters Espoo 2022
18/11/2022	BIG15:40 500	Match
18/11/2022	ENCE19:15 Astralis	Match
19/11/2022	Sprout15:50 BIG	Match
19/11/2022	fnatic20:25 Astralis	Match
20/11/2022	BIG18:00 fnatic	Match

ENCE #13 Paweł 'dycha' DychaPavle 'Maden' BoškovićMarco 'Snappi' PfeifferValdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåÁlvaro 'SunPayus' García Eetu 'sAw' Saha SAW #37 Christopher 'MUTiRiS' FernandesRicardo 'roman' OliveiraTiago 'JUST' MouraJoão 'story' VieiraMichel 'ewjerkz' Pinto Omar 'arki' Chakkor BIG #14 Elias 's1n' SteinJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzKarim 'Krimbo' MoussaJosef 'faveN' BaumannNils 'k1to' Gruhne fnatic #11 Peppe 'Peppzor' BorakNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenWilliam 'mezii' MerrimanDion 'FASHR' Derksen BIG #14 Elias 's1n' SteinJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzKarim 'Krimbo' MoussaNils 'k1to' GruhneFlorian 'syrsoN' Rische Peppe 'Peppzor' Borak Age: 20 Team: fnatic Rising Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 300 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.68 ENCE #13 Paweł 'dycha' DychaPavle 'Maden' BoškovićMarco 'Snappi' PfeifferValdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåÁlvaro 'SunPayus' García Kristoffer 'Kristou' Aamand Age: 20 Team: Astralis Talent Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 431 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.68 500 #50 Nikolay 'niki1' PantaleevGeorgi 'SHiPZ' GrigorovDenislav 'dennyslaw' DimitrovIvan 'Patrick' IvanovAleks 'Rainwaker' Petrov HEET #35 Audric 'JACKZ' JugAlexandre 'bodyy' PianaroThomas 'Djoko' PavoniPierre 'Ex3rcice' BulingeAurélien 'afro' Drapier Matthieu 'matHEND' Roquigny Bad News Eagles #16 Sener 'SENER1' MahmutiFlatron 'juanflatroo' HalimiDionis 'sinnopsyy' BudeciGenc 'gxx-' KolgeciRigon 'rigoN' Gashi Complexity #24 Michael 'Grim' WinceRicky 'floppy' KemeryJustin 'FaNg' CoakleyJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouHåkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli Tiaan 'T.c' Coertzen Astralis #18 Kristoffer 'Kristou' AamandAndreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethMikkel 'MistR' ThomsenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderBenjamin 'blameF' Bremer Bad News Eagles #16 Sener 'SENER1' MahmutiFlatron 'juanflatroo' HalimiDionis 'sinnopsyy' BudeciGenc 'gxx-' KolgeciRigon 'rigoN' Gashi Klesti 'stikle-' Kola 500 #50 Nikolay 'niki1' PantaleevGeorgi 'SHiPZ' GrigorovDenislav 'dennyslaw' DimitrovIvan 'Patrick' IvanovAleks 'Rainwaker' Petrov Sprout #21 Fritz 'slaxz-' DietrichVictor 'Staehr' StaehrRasmus 'Zyphon' NordfossIsmail 'refrezh' AliLaurențiu 'lauNX' Țârlea Astralis #18 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethMikkel 'MistR' ThomsenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderBenjamin 'blameF' BremerNicolai 'device' Reedtz Complexity #24 Michael 'Grim' WinceRicky 'floppy' KemeryJustin 'FaNg' CoakleyJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouHåkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli Florian 'syrsoN' Rische Age: 26 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1771 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 Nicolai 'device' Reedtz Age: 27 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.16 Maps played: 1787 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.62 Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Age: 28 Team: fnatic Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1843 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.64 fnatic #11 Peppe 'Peppzor' BorakNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenWilliam 'mezii' MerrimanDion 'FASHR' Derksen Jamie 'keita' Hall HAVU #66 Jesse 'zehN' LinjalaJani 'Aerial' JussilaSami 'xseveN' LaasanenJoonas 'doto' ForssJarkko 'spargo' Rahja Mikko 'xartE' Välimaa Ismail 'refrezh' Ali Age: 24 Team: Sprout Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1048 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 GamerLegion #23 Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandMihai 'iM' IvanNicolas 'Keoz' DgusKamil 'siuhy' SzkaradekIsak 'isak' Fahlén Ashley 'ash' Battye Sprout #21 Fritz 'slaxz-' DietrichVictor 'Staehr' StaehrRasmus 'Zyphon' NordfossIsmail 'refrezh' AliLaurențiu 'lauNX' Țârlea Danny 'BERRY' Krüger fnatic #11 Nico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenWilliam 'mezii' MerrimanDion 'FASHR' DerksenFreddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson Astralis #18 Kristoffer 'Kristou' AamandAndreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethMikkel 'MistR' ThomsenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderBenjamin 'blameF' Bremer Peter 'casle' Ardenskjold Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer Age: 25 Team: Astralis Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 936 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.61 ENCE #13 Paweł 'dycha' DychaPavle 'Maden' BoškovićMarco 'Snappi' PfeifferValdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåÁlvaro 'SunPayus' García BIG #14 Elias 's1n' SteinJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzKarim 'Krimbo' MoussaJosef 'faveN' BaumannNils 'k1to' Gruhne Fatih 'gob b' Dayik