VP, BIG, Spirit, FaZe join Pinnacle Fall Series 1 in playoff stage

All four of the invited squads were eliminated in the group stage of ESL Pro League Season 14 and will be searching for redemption against a weaker field of play.

The final four invites for the playoffs of Pinnacle Fall Series 1 have been set with BIG, FaZe, Spirit and Virtus.pro receiving direct spots into the top eight of the event. They will face off against the four teams who progress through the round-of-12.

Of the four squads, FaZe were the closest to playoffs in EPL, missing out on a spot following a three-way tiebreaker based on round differential with fnatic and MOUZ.

FaZe fell short in Pro League and need to prove themselves once more.

Despite their shock 2-0 victory against Natus Vincere, BIG were unable to make it out of the same group as FaZe in Pro League. Nicklas "⁠gade⁠" Gade's recent addition to the squad raises questions about the form of the team at the moment and whether they have had the time to integrate the Dane into the lineup fully.

Virtus.pro are the highest ranked team from the CIS region in the event and will already place ahead of Spirit Academy, K23 and 1WIN who were knocked out in previous stages. Despite the team's losses in Pro League, Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali continues to be the highest rated player on the team and one of the factors of success for the team.

Spirit will have to prove their worth as the lowest ranked of the invited teams if they want to prove themselves as contenders for the top 10. While the featured teams are not as strong as their Pro League group, the Russian team will have an opportunity to prove themselves against Virtus.pro from their region in addition to FaZe and BIG. Spirit struggled in Pro League, only managing a single win over G2 as Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov finished among the lowest rated players for the event.

The playoffs of the tournament have already kicked off, where Copenhagen Flames have secured their spot in the top eight with a 2-0 against 1WIN. Find the full playoff bracket on our event page.

The 12 playoff teams for the event are seen below:

Invited teams
FaZe
BIG
Virtus.pro
Spirit Qualified teams
Endpoint
AGO
SKADE
GamerLegion
1WIN
Copenhagen Flames
Galaxy Racer
Dignitas AGO #23 Karol 'rallen' RodowiczDamian 'Furlan' KislowskiEryk 'leman' KocębaMichał 'snatchie' RudzkiMaciej 'F1KU' Miklas Endpoint #27 Joey 'CRUC1AL' SteuselMax 'MiGHTYMAX' HeathKia 'Surreal' ManThomas 'Thomas' UttingMohammad 'BOROS' Malhas GamerLegion #47 Patrik 'Zero' ŽúdelAlfred 'RuStY' KarlssonMihai 'iM' IvanSean 'eraa' KnutssonIsak 'isak' Fahlén Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov Age: 24 Team: Spirit Rating 1.0: 0.97 Maps played: 978 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.67 SKADE #22 Georgi 'SHiPZ' GrigorovDenislav 'dennyslaw' DimitrovKalin 'KalubeR' ErenditsovViktor 'Duplicate' MitevAleks 'Rainwaker' Petrov G2 #3 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Natus Vincere #1 Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyValeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy MOUZ #14 Christopher 'dexter' NongDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýFrederik 'acoR' GyldstrandRobin 'ropz' KoolAurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras Virtus.pro #5 Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievTimur 'buster' TulepovAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliMareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis Nicklas 'gade' Gade Age: 26 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 900 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.67 BIG #10 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeNicklas 'gade' GadeNils 'k1to' Gruhne Spirit Academy #81 Pavel 'S1ren' OgloblinRobert 'Patsi' IsyanovAlexey 'znxxX' ZlotkovskiyMyroslav 'zont1x' PlakhotiaDanil 'donk' Kryshkovets 1WIN #36 Vadim 'Polt' TsyrovAleksandr 'TRAVIS' TimkivAleksandr 'glowiing' MatsievichDenis 'deko' ZhukovDanil 'ravenlot' Bikvaidze Dzhami 'Jame' Ali Age: 23 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 1065 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.55 Spirit #12 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevAbdul 'degster' GasanovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev K23 #25 Dauren 'AdreN' KystaubayevRustem 'mou' TelepovSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovDavid 'n0rb3r7' DanielyanPetr 'fame' Bolyshev Dignitas #57 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergAdam 'friberg' FribergJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonHåkon 'hallzerk' FjærliLudvig 'HEAP' Alonso Galaxy Racer #69 Simon 'twist' EliassonJoakim 'disco doplan' GidetunNiclas 'PlesseN' PlessenAdam 'dezon' WahlqvistHugo 'chawzyyy' Günther fnatic #34 Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinLudvig 'Brollan' BrolinJack 'Jackinho' Ström MattssonWilliam 'mezii' Merriman Copenhagen Flames #30 Rasmus 'HooXi' NielsenNico 'nicoodoz' TamjidiFredrik 'roeJ' JørgensenJakob 'jabbi' NygaardRasmus 'Zyphon' Nordfoss FaZe #4 Finn 'karrigan' AndersenOlof 'olofmeister' KajbjerHåvard 'rain' NygaardRussel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenHelvijs 'broky' Saukants