FlyQuest and Monte survive to continue competing at the Maltese tournament.
The second-to-last day of the ESL Pro League Season 19 group stage has kicked off with PERA and FORZE bowing out after losing to FlyQuest and Monte, respectively.
PERA exits EPL after surpassing the expectations of many, showing competitiveness in most of their series. They began the tournament with a heavy loss to Complexity but rebounded to defeat the makeshift Ninjas in Pyjamas roster and relegated them to the Last Chance Stage.
They then pushed BIG to their limits but ultimately fell short, a fate mirrored in their three-map battle against FlyQuest.
Meanwhile, on the B stream, FORZE saw their tournament journey come to an end. Despite featuring two stand-ins, Owen "smooya" Butterfield and Aleksei "NickelBack" Trofimov, the predominantly Russian squad can be proud of their spirited performance in Malta.
They secured a dominant 13-0 victory over FURIA on Overpass and gave Monte a tough fight in the decider, but ultimately missed out on the playoffs. smooya also made a solid return to LAN, boasting an average rating of 1.20 across ten maps.
FlyQuest and Monte now need one more win to advance to the playoffs. The Australian team will face the winner of HEROIC vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas, while Monte will take on the victor of ENCE vs. FURIA.