ESL Pro League Season 22 Stage 1Inner Circle edge past M8s to qualify for Stage 2
The Ukrainian squad dealt a heavy blow to M8s' Major aspirations.
Inner Circle punched their ticket to the ESL Pro League Season 22 Stage 2 with a 3-0 record and punched Gentle Mates in the gut in the Spaniards' fight for crucial VRS points in the Major race.
The series was fought out from the start, on Nuke, where Inner Circle put up an 8-4 half on the CT side before Gentle Mates swept after the half winning nine in a row to secure their pick 8-13 with a 1.82-rated performance from Alejandro "mopoz" Fernández-Quejo Cano.
Inner Circle's David "Dawy" Bibik, the 20th highest-ranked player in our first prospect report, was a big part of Inner Circle's 13-10 victory on Mirage with +7.57% Swing, 87.3 ADR, and four multi-kill rounds.
The final map was the most promising of all as both teams went into it with similar records, and it delivered. It initially looked like the Spanish side were well in control, taking a 3-9 lead on the attack, but their CT side faltered despite hitting double digits after the pistol round.
A successful second-round forcebuy with no plant in pistols set off an incredible performance from Inner Circle with AWPer Artem "Flierax" Khioara catching fire as he and Dawy finished the map with the joint-highest rating, 1.38, after grinding back to a 13-11 victory.
Inner Circle have earned some days off before Stage 2 kicks off on October 4, while Gentle Mates will have to reset mentally after a costly blow that puts them outside of the predicted invites to Budapest as they prepare for the 2-1 match that could get them into the Pro League's next stage.
 Inner Circle |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 54 - 43 | +5.02% | 84.6 | 69.1% | 1.36 | |
| 48 - 43 | +0.43% | 75.0 | 79.4% | 1.11 | |
| 50 - 54 | -1.88% | 88.5 | 70.6% | 0.99 | |
| 44 - 52 | -1.66% | 66.4 | 69.1% | 0.89 | |
| 33 - 47 | -0.60% | 57.3 | 64.7% | 0.85 |
 Gentle Mates |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 - 47 | +1.95% | 90.5 | 73.5% | 1.25 | |
| 53 - 47 | +1.79% | 81.7 | 72.1% | 1.18 | |
| 52 - 40 | -0.06% | 86.2 | 73.5% | 1.13 | |
| 47 - 44 | +0.01% | 66.9 | 77.9% | 1.04 | |
| 30 - 54 | -5.30% | 53.5 | 67.6% | 0.62 |
Alejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo Cano
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