3DMAX and FORZE qualify for ESL Pro League Season 19

The Russian team fought through the lower bracket to earn their spot in ESL's flagship league.

Ex3rcice's men earned their new organization a spot in the league

3DMAX and FORZE have earned spots in ESL Pro League Season 19 after securing top-two finishes in ESL Challenger League Season 46 Europe. The French team went undefeated in the upper bracket to make the grand final, while FORZE completed a labored journey through the lower bracket to set up a challenge against 3DMAX for the title.

Date	Matches
ESL Challenger League Season 46 Europe
10/12/2023	3DMAX 19:00 FORZE	Match

Pierre "⁠Ex3rcice⁠" Bulinge's troops will be ecstatic after they earned their spot with relative ease, finishing second in their group and beating Monte and 9INE in the seeding round to earn a bye to the upper semis in the playoffs. The French side then beat Apeks and SINNERS to make the grand final and secure a spot in EPL, rewarding their new organization with representation in the $750,000 league.

Read more

3DMAX return to Counter-Strike with Looking4Org roster

FORZE had greater difficulty in their run, finishing third in their group and thus, entering the playoffs in the lower bracket. Despite elimination being just one loss away, the Russian team fought past Movistar Riders, Space, Spirit (albeit with the organization's academy roster substituting in), and Apeks to make the consolidation final, where SINNERS stood between them and an EPL spot.

The Czech team drew first blood in the qualification match with a strong win on their Ancient pick, but couldn't convert that into a 2-0 victory on Mirage after FORZE recovered from a 2-4 deficit to take their pick, 13-9. Evgeny "⁠r3salt⁠" Frolov then took over on the Inferno decider to make it a one-sided end to the series, posting a 25-9 K-D and 2.18 rating to secure the map, 13-4.

ESL Challenger League Season 46 EuropeBest of 3

SINNERS

Matchpage

1

2

9th December 2023

FORZE

13

Ancient

6

9

Mirage

13

4

Inferno

13

SINNERS	K - D	Swing	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Jindřich 'ZEDKO' ChybaZEDKO	47 - 40	+2.56%	82.1	69.0%	1.15
Max 'SHOCK' KvapilSHOCK	32 - 41	-0.89%	68.3	67.2%	0.98
Simon 'KWERTZZ' HorákKWERTZZ	42 - 44	+1.47%	73.5	72.4%	0.98
Sebastian 'beastik' Daňobeastik	35 - 44	-1.21%	70.4	65.5%	0.91
Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastnýoskar	29 - 35	-2.47%	52.1	62.1%	0.79

FORZE	K - D	Swing	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Evgeny 'r3salt' Frolovr3salt	54 - 38	+2.61%	87.4	70.7%	1.28
Vladislav 'Krad' KravchenkoKrad	44 - 43	+1.15%	89.1	72.4%	1.27
Erkhan 'gokushima' Bagynanovgokushima	43 - 31	+1.02%	77.4	72.4%	1.18
Aleksandr 'shalfey' Marenovshalfey	31 - 38	-1.56%	59.4	72.4%	0.94
Andrey 'tN1R' TatarinovichtN1R	32 - 38	-2.69%	58.5	63.8%	0.90

Apeks, 9INE, Falcons, Spirit, and Movistar Riders are among the list of notable names who fell short of qualifying, with the latter forced to use coach Galder "⁠bladE⁠" Barcena in the playoffs after Antonio "⁠MartinezSa⁠" Martinez departed for 9z.

Read more

Official: MartinezSa joins 9z

Monte dropped out of the playoffs after they earned an EPL spot by winning ESL Challenger Jönköping, while Spirit went undefeated in the group stage and seeding round but had to use their academy lineup for their playoff games due to attending BetBoom Dacha, resulting in losses to SINNERS and FORZE.

The team list for ESL Pro League Season 19 now looks as follows:

FaZe
MOUZ
G2
Natus Vincere
Astralis
HEROIC
Evil Geniuses
Liquid
Grayhound
M80
The MongolZ
ESL Challenger NA
European Conference
South American Qualifier
ESL World Ranking
ESL World Ranking

Vitality
ENCE
Complexity
FURIA
BIG
Ninjas in Pyjamas
fnatic
Monte
3DMAX
TYLOO
FORZE
ESL Challenger Atlanta
South American Qualifier
Oceania Qualifier
ESL World Ranking
ESL World Ranking