ESL locked in the ESL Pro League Season 24 field on August 10. Six weeks later the list still shows the same 16 names, but several of them no longer describe the teams that will sit down in Katowice on October 3.
PARIVISION changed a starter on September 17. The qualifier slot TDK won in May now belongs to 1win. Aurora, invited as HLTV’s eighth-ranked side, just played a grand final, and Vitality may start the event without their captain. In a Swiss stage where one bad best-of-three ends a run, these changes matter.
How Does the EPL S24 Bracket in Katowice Work?
According to the Liquipedia event page, EPL S24 runs from October 3 to 11, with 16 teams playing for $1,000,000. Every team starts in a Swiss stage of best-of-three series. Eight advance to a single-elimination playoff at the Spodek Arena from October 9 to 11, and the grand final is a best-of-five.
Twelve teams were invited through Valve’s VRS ranking. The VRS top five at the cutoff were Spirit, Falcons, 9z, MOUZ and Vitality. The other four seats went to ESL Challenger League Season 51 winners: TYLOO, M80, ShindeN, who are making their first international LAN appearance, and the Europe qualifier. The map pool is Ancient, Anubis, Cache, Dust2, Inferno, Mirage and Nuke.
Where Can You Compare EPL S24 Team Form Before October 3?
The invite rankings were frozen in early August, so they tell you little about who arrives in form. To compare squads before round one, you can use the counter strike 2 stats hub on EGamersWorld, which collects team rankings, player numbers and match results for every EPL S24 participant. Its match pages also list lineups and map picks. That is the quickest way to check which version of a roster played most recently.
Why Did PARIVISION Bring HObbit Back Before Katowice?
On September 17, PARIVISION benched 18-year-old Vyacheslav “slaxejezzz” Vinokurov and signed Abay “HObbit” Khassenov on a permanent deal, as HLTV reported. HObbit already knows the team. He stood in during June and July and helped PARIVISION reach the XSE Pro League final, which they lost 0-3 to 9z.
slaxejezzz had replaced Emil “nota” Moskvitin in June and played 26 maps for the team. Evgenii “FL1T” Lebedev, signed from Virtus.pro on July 29, keeps his place. The Katowice five will be Jame, xiELO, zweih, FL1T and HObbit, with coach dastan. PARIVISION were 16th in HLTV’s August 3 ranking. A lineup built around veterans, with barely two weeks to prepare, is the biggest unknown in the lower half of the Swiss draw.
How Did TDK’s Qualifier Spot End Up With 1win?
On May 28, TDK beat Nemesis 3-2 in the ECL Season 51 Europe Finals after trailing 2-1. They did it with no organization paying the bills. Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov posted over 100 ADR across the last two maps.
That spot now belongs to 1win. The core stayed together: Ax1Le, Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov and coach Konstantin “groove” Pikiner. They are joined by Petr “fame” Bolyshev, Artem “ArtFr0st” Kharitonov and Andrey “BELCHONOKK” Yasinskiy, who came on loan from PARIVISION on August 1. HLTV ranked 1win 63rd on August 3, so they look like an easy draw on paper. Still, this lineup has more experience than the TDK five that qualified.
Is Vitality Playing Katowice Without apEX?
Possibly, for part of the event. Dan “apEX” Madesclaire and his wife are expecting a child. Reports say Justinas “jL” Lekavičius will travel with Vitality as a stand-in in case the birth happens during the event. Vitality used the same plan at BLAST Open Fall 2026, where jL replaced William “mezii” Merriman and the team lost 0-2 to MOUZ in the semifinals.
This matters for the bracket. Vitality just won StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026 with their full lineup, beating Aurora 3-1 in the final. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut took his 33rd career MVP there. Losing the in-game leader in the middle of the Swiss stage would hurt the team’s calling more than its aim.
Why Do Aurora Look Stronger Than Their Invite Rank?
Aurora rebuilt in July. MAJ3R and soulfly were benched on July 2. Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo and coach Ashley “ash” Battye arrived a day later, and Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski joined as in-game leader on July 8. HLTV placed them eighth on August 3.
At StarSeries Fall, Aurora sent Vitality to the lower bracket, closing the series 13:8 on Nuke, and Jimpphat was named MVP with a 1.36 rating. A team playing at that level is a hard opponent in any round of the Swiss stage.
Which Team Missed Katowice Because of the August Cutoff?
FaZe. The invites, announced by HLTV on August 10, went to the VRS top 12, and all twelve teams accepted, so no spot opened up. In the comments under that announcement, one FaZe fan said the team was “1 spot too low.” Another reader argued there was a steep drop in quality after PARIVISION on the list.
Reading that thread now, the argument looks different. PARIVISION, the team that reader singled out, has since changed its lineup. The European qualifier also plays under a different name than the team that won it. In my view, the first Swiss rounds in Katowice will depend less on the August rankings and more on which new lineups have had time to settle.
EPL S24 starts on October 3. The first things to watch are how PARIVISION and 1win perform in the opening Swiss rounds and whether Vitality confirm jL in place of apEX.