Gambit vs. Astralis headlines EPL Play-In; G2, Liquid to face off in Round of 12

29-3-2021 23:00

The tournament will resume on Friday after a three-day break.

Following the conclusion of the ESL Pro League Season 13 group stage on Monday, ESL revealed the match-ups for the Play-In stage and for the first round of the single-elimination playoffs.

The four group winners — HEROIC, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Gambit and Astralis — have guaranteed spots in the Play-In stage, which will determine the first two semi-finalists of the tournament. The losing sides will be placed in the third playoff round.

The Play-In stage will be headlined by a mouth-watering clash between the current world No.2 and 3, Astralis and Gambit, two sides who last faced off in the DreamHack Masters Winter quarter-finals, in December. In the other Play-In encounter, HEROIC and Ninjas in Pyjamas will also face each other for the first time this year, with the pair separated by only one place in the ranking.

In the Round of 12, all eyes will be on the highly-entertaining encounter between G2 and Liquid, who have not faced each other since February 2020, in the group stage of IEM Katowice. The opening round will also see current world No.1 Natus Vincere take on Complexity in a rematch of January's BLAST Premier Global Final lower bracket match — which marked the beginning of the CIS giants' title-winning run.

Below you can find the upcoming match-ups for the ESL Pro League and the schedule for the rest of the tournament:

Play-In:

HEROIC vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
Gambit vs. Astralis

Round of 12:

FURIA vs. FunPlus Phoenix
G2 vs. Liquid
Complexity vs. Natus Vincere
Virtus.pro vs. ENCE

Schedule

Friday, April 2:

15:30 FURIA vs. FunPlus Phoenix
19:00 G2 vs. Liquid

Saturday, April 3:

15:30 Virtus.pro vs. ENCE
19:00 Complexity vs. Natus Vincere

Sunday, April 4:

15:30 Round of 8 #1
19:00 Round of 8 #2

Thursday, April 8:

15:30 HEROIC vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
19:00 Gambit vs. Astralis

Friday, April 9:

15:30 Round of 6 #1
19:00 Round of 6 #2

Saturday, April 10:

15:30 Semi-final #1
19:00 Semi-final #2

Sunday, April 11:

15:30 Grand final

Gambit will win EPL

2021-03-29 23:00

4 replies

Nah

2021-03-29 23:04

1 reply

Gambit vs Astralis rip Astralis kkkkkkkkkkk

2021-03-29 23:27

mb, mb astralis win

2021-03-29 23:57

Astralis will probably lose the play in and then win the tournament in a classic astralis way.

2021-03-31 00:08

Gambit and Astralis have a chance to win EPL. I can’t see other teams in FINALS

2021-03-29 23:01

Liquid was close, let’s see how they prepare for playoffs. Also Navi will randomly hit a peak during tournaments so you never know

2021-03-29 23:53

ez4liquid

2021-03-29 23:02

gambit vs liquid in the final

srsly?

2021-03-30 02:49

Maybe

EG were quite unlucky tbh.

2021-03-29 23:03

Losing to fnatic&endpoint lmao That’s about being trash

2021-03-30 00:00

Gambit and Astralis probably might face each other in final again and one will get their revenge

they might

2021-03-29 23:17

Navi will win as Astralis will win play in and put gambit on other side of bracket and then liquid will beat gambit. Navi turn up vs top EU teams.

2 replies

Liquid wont win gambit

2021-03-29 23:19

god i hope so! navi deserves it after their 12 season choke..

2021-03-29 23:25

maybe NIP can upset

youtube.com/watch?v=gfTPTOCnUa4 obv can...

2021-03-30 02:52

EZ4ASTRALIS

2021-03-29 23:06

Ez4ence

2021-03-29 23:12

ez for gambit

boring round robin finally over.

ez4professor

2021-03-29 23:13

ez4ence

Are loosers from Round 12 eliminated from tournament?

2021-03-29 23:14

yes

Thanks

EZ4ENCE

2021-03-29 23:15

Ez4G2

2021-03-29 23:16

LETS GO ASTRALIS!!

2021-03-29 23:20

6 replies

Gambit vs Astralis rip Astralis kkkkkkkk

2021-03-29 23:29

5 replies

Mens you post like twice a month and one is always reacting to me...

2021-03-29 23:31

This must be 2nd time ;)

2021-03-30 07:25

You say so many funny things that it's hard not to be your fan.

2021-03-31 00:00

im so famous mens)) you wouldn't believe 😳😳😳😳

2021-03-31 00:03

That's why I'm your fan 😳

2021-03-31 03:49

NaVi - Astralis grand final let's go

2021-03-29 23:22

Navi ahhahahaahahahhahahaahhaha

2021-03-30 00:43

Ez4Navi and goat S1mple

2021-03-29 23:26

Hahahahahahahaaha

2021-03-30 05:46

2021-03-30 09:48

Gambit/Liquid/Astralis win EPL 13

2021-03-29 23:23

ez for furia

Last season EPL grand final was amazing, lets hope we keep getting those and not 3-0 sweep by one team.

2021-03-29 23:49

with the level, every team is showing right now...highly unlikely there will be a sweep...but if astralis is in the final, you never know :( :P

2021-03-30 00:14

🤡nline = who 🚘🚘???

2021-03-30 00:04

3 replies

I 🚗 😐

2021-03-30 00:18

Flag checks out

2021-03-30 06:34

You meant flair right

2021-03-30 06:53

wtf is this format

2021-03-30 00:10

Gambit will win them all

2021-03-30 00:30

they cant they just unable to play with all...

2021-03-30 02:54

So freakin’ easy for gambit After epl gambit will be first in ranking

2021-03-30 00:45

Predictions for the first round: Furia 1-2 FunPlus Phoenix G2 2-0 Liquid Virtus.Pro 2-0 Ence Complexity 1-2 Navi Heroic 2-1 NiP Gambit 2-1 Astralis

2021-03-30 00:46

What a biased predic

name checks out

2021-03-30 06:36

liquid will smash g2 i think

2021-03-30 08:55

cant wait for gambit v astralis! lots of respect for both teams.. hoping for a banger!

2021-03-30 01:13

Not easy by Gambit and goat Shiro-)

2021-03-30 02:45

The strugfle for an astralis and gambit supporter to choose whether to think its good or sad for them to meet already.

2021-03-30 03:18

Seeing navi peak in playoffs

2021-03-30 05:47

Exactly

2021-03-30 09:00

NaVi will probably fuck up in their first match

2021-03-30 06:02

Predictions for the first round: Furia 2-0 FunPlus Phoenix G2 1-2 Liquid Virtus.Pro 2-0 Ence Complexity 1-2 Navi Heroic 1-2 NiP Gambit 1-2 Astralis

2021-03-30 06:35

Only one match without a danish player.

Elige was pretty confident yesterday after win vs VP. And he said they played bad vs Astralis. Liquid could go far in the playoffs.... Navi is a mystery, they might pop off and win the whole thing. Gambit is surely a contender for the title, playing so solid. Astralis, VP could also suprise. Heroic biggest dark horse probably.

2021-03-30 07:35

Cool

2021-03-30 09:01

Heroic, Gambit, Furia, Liquid, NaVi, VP.

2021-03-30 07:47

Go Hobbit!

2021-03-30 10:39

NIP actually played good in groupstage, dont count them out :()

2021-03-30 10:54

It will be a great matchup between Gambit and Astralis, I will for sure watch this one. I think G2 will surprise ppl and beat Liquid. Let's go guys, I can't wait for those matches!

2021-03-30 11:28