Ninjas, NaVi win on first day of ESL Pro League Season 20

The ESL Pro League kicked off Season 20 on Tuesday with six group stage matches, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Natus Vincere among the winners in Saint Julian's, Malta.

Ninjas in Pyjamas had some help early, as it won its first map of a 2-1 victory over HEROIC when a HEROIC player was found to be using illegal equipment.

Elsewhere in the Group A upper-bracket quarterfinals, Natus Vincere swept Lynn Vision 2-0, Sangal Esports edged FaZe Clan 2-1 and Eternal Fire defeated FlyQuest 2-0. Two Group B matches were played, with MIBR beating 9z Team 2-0 and G2 Esports topping KOI by the same score.

The group stage split 32 teams into four groups where they are competing in a triple-elimination bracket format, with each match best-of-three. The top four teams from each group will move into the playoff bracket.

Group winners will advance straight into the playoff quarterfinals. Runners-up will advance to the Round of 12, third-place teams will move to the Round of 16 as high seeds and fourth-place teams will start in the Round of 16 as low seeds.

The single-elimination playoff bracket will be best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final on Sept. 22.

The winner will receive $170,000 and be crowned ESL Pro Season 20 champion, along with qualifying for the first ESL Pro Tour Championship of 2025.

On Tuesday, after HEROIC forfeited the opening map (Ancient), they stayed alive by winning 13-7 on Nuke. Ninjas in Pyjamas took care of business on Vertigo, 13-6. Artem "r1nkle" Moroz of Ukraine led NiP in the match with 33 kills and a plus-9 kills-to-deaths differential.

Natus Vincere eked out a 16-14 overtime win on Dust II before finishing Lynn Vision off with a 13-4 win on Ancient. NaVi got 41 kills from both Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy of Ukraine (plus-16) and Mihai "iM" Ivan of Romania (plus-12).

Sangal trounced FaZe 13-2 on Anubis, took a 13-11 defeat on Ancient and came back to win Nuke 13-11. Samet "jottAAA" Koklu of Turkey starred for Sangal, racking up 57 kills on a plus-23.

Eternal Fire's all-Turkish roster defeated FlyQuest 13-10 on Inferno and 13-7 on Dust II. Bugra "Calyx" Arkin (plus-8) and Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dortkardes (plus-7) each tallied 35 kills for Eternal Fire.

Over in Group B, MIBR eked out wins of 13-11 on Anubis and 13-10 on Nuke to send 9z to the mid bracket. Rafael "saffee" Costa (36 kills, plus-8) and Felipe "insani" Yuji (36 kills, plus-5) led MIBR's all-Brazilian squad.

G2 Esports beat KOI 13-7 on Inferno and 13-10 on Mirage. Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov of Russia posted 39 kills on a plus-20 for G2.

The tournament continues Wednesday with six matches:

--Sangal Esports vs. Eternal Fire (Group A upper-bracket semifinals)

--Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Natus Vincere (Group A upper-bracket semifinals)

--FaZe Clan vs. FlyQuest (Group A mid-bracket Round 1)

--HEROIC vs. Lynn Vision (Group A mid-bracket Round 1)

--Team Spirit vs. Wildcard (Group B upper-bracket quarterfinals)

--The MongolZ vs. 3DMAX (Group B upper-bracket quarterfinals)

ESL Pro League Season 20 prize pool (money, BLAST Premier points)

1. $170,000, 2,000 points

2. $80,000, 1,400

3-4. $45,000, 750

5-8. $32,000, 275

9-12. $23,500

13-16. $17,500

17-20. $12,000

21-28. $7,000

29-32. $3,500

--Field Level Media