EPL Season 21 Teams List Shows Giant Skipping The Event

Tournament organizer ESL has announced the complete Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) teams list for ESL Pro League Season 21, set to take place in March at the ESL Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. 

The latest Valve Global Standings (VGS) were used to determine the eight direct invites to Stage 2 of ESL Pro League Season 21 and the four direct invites to Stage 1. In addition to the direct invites, 12 other teams have qualified via ESL Challenger leagues and other tournaments. 

FaZe Clan is 5th on the VGS, which means they should be directly in Stage 2 of ESL Pro League Season 21, but they are absent from the list. Before you get your pitchforks out, don't worry, ESL didn't make a mistake. Instead, FaZe Clan has decided to skip the event. That's good news for GamerLegion, who now earn a direct invite to Stage 1.

In the team list announcement post from ESL, the organizer explained that:

FaZe Clan (VRS Rank 5) declined their invite, meaning Team Liquid (VRS Rank 9) took the final Stage 2 invite slot; and GamerLegion were invited as the final team via VRS going to Stage 1.

To be fair, the tournament calendar for top-tier teams is absolutely packed. ESL Pro League Season 21 takes place in Sweden (not Malta anymore) from 1 to 16 March 2025, right in the middle between two huge events: PGL PGL Cluj-Napoca and BLAST Open Lisbon.

The tournament's location has been moved from Malta to Sweden, and 2025 also brings a format change to two Major-style Swiss systems before an eight-team playoffs.

Read More: Train To Replace Vertigo in Time For BLAST.tv Austin Major

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