Playoff bracket for EPL S16 set; Heroic-NAVI to face in first round

FaZe and Natus Vincere will start on opposite sides of the bracket.

The playoff bracket has been determined for ESL Pro League Season 16 following the end of group play on Sunday, which saw Liquid and FURIA clinch the final two spots out of Group D to join the group winner, Cloud9, in the bracket stage.

Vitality and G2 went undefeated en route to topping the first two groups, while MOUZ were the surprise out of Group C, finishing above HEROIC to earn a direct berth to the quarter-finals. The majority of the remaining favorites also advanced to the playoffs with the exception of Ninjas in Pyjamas, Astralis, and ENCE, who missed out following lacklustre performances in key matches.

NAVI and Heroic will face off in the first round of the EPL bracket

Notably, both FaZe and Natus Vincere failed to top their groups, and as such will start their playoff campaigns in the round of 12. An early meeting will not arise though as the teams have been seeded onto opposite sides of the bracket, meaning the earliest they can meet would be in a thrilling best-of-five grand final showdown.

To make it to that matchup though, Natus Vincere will first need to take on HEROIC in what is undoubtedly the highlight match of the opening round. FaZe have an easier opponent in front of them in the form of Complexity, but will have Cloud9 waiting in the wings to challenge in the quarter-finals.

The initial round of matches can be found below, or you can head on over to our event page to see the schedule and complete bracket for yourself.

Round of 12 (Tuesday-Wednesday)
Complexity vs. FaZe
Liquid vs. fnatic
Natus Vincere vs. HEROIC
Outsiders vs. FURIA

Quarter-finals (Thursday-Friday)
Cloud9 vs. Complexity / FaZe winner
MOUZ vs. Liquid / fnatic winner
G2 vs. Natus Vincere / HEROIC winner
Vitality vs. Outsiders / FURIA winner