Here you can find team seeding for the first round of matchups of Stage 1 of the ESL Pro League Season 21. Team seeds were determined using Team Selected Seeding. A breakdown of the Team Selected Seeding process and how teams will be ranked going forward is also provided below.
Team Selected Seeding
ESL Pro League Season 21Team Seeding for Stage 1
| If VRS Used (03.02.2025) | Team Selected Seeding | Diff | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Eternal Fire | 1 | Eternal Fire | 0 |
| 2 |  FURIA | 2 |  paiN
| 3 |
| 3 |  GamerLegion | 3 |  3DMAX | 1 |
| 4 | 3DMAX | 4 | FURIA | -2 |
| 5 | paiN
| 5 | GamerLegion | -2 |
| 6 |  MIBR | 6 |  HEROIC | 1 |
| 7 | HEROIC | 7 | MIBR | -1 |
| 8 |  FlyQuest | 8 | FlyQuest | 0 |
| 9 |  SAW | 9 |  M80 | 2 |
| 10 |  Nemiga | 10 | Nemiga | 0 |
| 11 | M80 | 11 | SAW | -2 |
| 12 |  NRG | 12 | NRG | 0 |
| 13 |  Lynn Vision | 13 | Lynn Vision | 0 |
| 14 |  TYLOO | 14 | TYLOO | 0 |
| 15 |  Mindfreak | 15 |  Housebets | 1 |
| 16 | Housebets | 16 | Mindfreak | -1 |
The Team Selected Seeding approach leverages teams' insights to establish an accurate, real-time ranking of all participants at the event. Each participating team has submitted subjective rankings of their competitors. These have been aggregated to determine the overall tournament seeding.
For Stage 1, each team submitted a ranked list of the other 15 teams participating in the event. Seed #1 represents the highest-ranked team, and Seed #15 represents the lowest. Teams were prohibited from ranking themselves, and each rank can only be assigned once. All teams were required to vote fairly and impartially, with any attempts to manipulate or unfairly influence the seeding process strictly prohibited.
After collecting the rankings, votes that fell outside a mathematically expected range based on standard deviation were excluded from the calculation.
Teams were seeded based on their final average values, with the lowest rank value representing the top seed. In the event of a tie, a coin toss determined the final seeding between the tied teams.
Submission Example:
Team NRG was ranked by other teams as follows:
- FURIA: #11
- 3DMAX: #10
- Eternal Fire: #11
- GamerLegion:#10
- HEROIC: #12
- Nemiga: #10
- M80: #12
- TYLOO: #13
- Lynn Vision: #12
- paiN: #12
- MIBR: #11
- Housebets: #12
- Mindfreak: #14
- FlyQuest: #13
- SAW: #12
Then the average is (11+10+11+10+12+10+12+13+12+12+11+12+14+13+12) / (15) = 11.66666667.
The Standard Deviation for these values is 1.1352924243951. The accepted range of votes falls within 1.5 standard deviations of the average which is 1.70293863659265. The decision to use a 1.5 standard deviation threshold is based on our research, which found that natural and expected voting patterns typically fall within this range. While not all votes beyond this threshold are necessarily malicious, they are often at least ill-informed.
Accepted Range of votes: 9.96-13.37
- ~9.96 (average minus 1.5 times standard deviation)
- ~13.37 (average plus 1.5 times standard deviation)
So the “#14 vote” gets struck because it is not in the range. Leaving an average rank of ~11.62 which placed them as the 12th Seed.
All Submissions
| Voting Team |  FURIA |  3DMAX |  Eternal Fire |  GamerLegion |  HEROIC |  Nemiga |  M80 |  NRG |  TYLOO |  Lynn Vision |  paiN |  MIBR | Housebets |  Mindfreak |  FlyQuest |  SAW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voting Rank | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire | paiN | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire | Eternal Fire |
| 2 | GamerLegion | paiN | 3DMAX | paiN | paiN | paiN | 3DMAX | paiN | paiN | HEROIC | 3DMAX | GamerLegion | 3DMAX | 3DMAX | paiN | paiN |
| 3 | paiN | GamerLegion |  FURIA | FURIA | FURIA | 3DMAX | paiN | HEROIC | FURIA | FURIA | GamerLegion | paiN | FURIA | paiN | 3DMAX | HEROIC |
| 4 | 3DMAX | FURIA | GamerLegion | MIBR | GamerLegion | FURIA | HEROIC | 3DMAX | 3DMAX | 3DMAX | FURIA | 3DMAX | GamerLegion | GamerLegion | GamerLegion | 3DMAX |
| 5 | HEROIC | MIBR | SAW | 3DMAX | MIBR | SAW | FURIA | MIBR | HEROIC | GamerLegion | HEROIC | FURIA | paiN | HEROIC | HEROIC | FURIA |
| 6 | MIBR | HEROIC | HEROIC | FlyQuest | 3DMAX | FlyQuest | GamerLegion | FURIA | GamerLegion | paiN | FlyQuest | HEROIC | HEROIC | FURIA | FURIA | GamerLegion |
| 7 | FlyQuest | FlyQuest | MIBR | M80 | Nemiga | MIBR | MIBR | GamerLegion | MIBR | SAW | MIBR | Nemiga | FlyQuest | MIBR | M80 | MIBR |
| 8 | SAW | M80 | FlyQuest | HEROIC | M80 | GamerLegion | FlyQuest | M80 | SAW | Nemiga | SAW | FlyQuest | MIBR | Nemiga | MIBR | Nemiga |
| 9 | M80 | SAW | M80 | Nemiga | FlyQuest | HEROIC | Nemiga | SAW | FlyQuest | MIBR | M80 | SAW | M80 | FlyQuest | SAW | M80 |
| 10 | Nemiga | NRG | TYLOO | NRG | SAW | NRG | SAW | FlyQuest | M80 | FlyQuest | Lynn Vision | M80 | Nemiga | M80 | Nemiga | FlyQuest |
| 11 | NRG | Nemiga | NRG | SAW | Lynn Vision | M80 | Lynn Vision | Nemiga | Lynn Vision | M80 | TYLOO | NRG | SAW | SAW | TYLOO | Lynn Vision |
| 12 | Lynn Vision | TYLOO | Lynn Vision | Lynn Vision | NRG | Lynn Vision | NRG | TYLOO | Nemiga | NRG | NRG | Lynn Vision | NRG | Lynn Vision | Lynn Vision | NRG |
| 13 | TYLOO | Lynn Vision | Nemiga | TYLOO | TYLOO | TYLOO | TYLOO | Lynn Vision | NRG | TYLOO | Nemiga | TYLOO | Lynn Vision | TYLOO | NRG | TYLOO |
| 14 | Mindfreak |  Housebets | Housebets | Housebets | Mindfreak | Mindfreak | Housebets | Housebets | Housebets | Housebets | Housebets | Housebets | TYLOO | NRG | Mindfreak | Housebets |
| 15 | Housebets | Mindfreak | Mindfreak | Mindfreak | Housebets | Housebets | Mindfreak | Mindfreak | Mindfreak | Mindfreak | Mindfreak | Mindfreak | Mindfreak | Housebets | Housebets | Mindfreak |
Live Ratings
Following the initial Team Selected Seeding, teams will be assigned ELO-like ratings corresponding to their seed positions. Each Swiss round will then be seeded according to the teams' current ratings, which will be dynamically updated after each match. Teams will be paired based on their updated ratings, with the restriction that no rematches will occur.
The objective of live ratings is to continuously adjust team rankings to more accurately reflect their current performance. For example, if the #16 seed defeated the #1 seed, this result suggests the #16 team is performing above expectations, and their rating will be adjusted accordingly.
With the above in mind, the three tournament stages of ESL Pro League (Stage 1, Stage 2 & Playoffs) will use seeding in the following ways:
- Team Selected Seeding will set the baseline ratings to create seeds and produce the opening matchups in Stage 1 and Stage 2. Initial matchups will follow a standard bracket format (e.g. 1 vs 16)
- Live Ratings after every Swiss round using the rating system, which replaces the Buchholz system
- Seeding for the playoffs will be using the results of Stage 2 and the corresponding Live Ratings to break any ties (e.g. the two teams with a 3-0 record)
ESL Pro League Season 21Current Live Ratings
| Team | Live Rating |
|---|---|
| Eternal Fire | 1 |
| paiN
| 2 |
| 3DMAX | 3 |
| FURIA | 4 |
| GamerLegion | 5 |
| HEROIC | 6 |
| MIBR | 7 |
| FlyQuest | 8 |
| M80 | 9 |
| Nemiga | 10 |
| SAW | 11 |
| NRG | 12 |
| Lynn Vision | 13 |
| TYLOO | 14 |
| Housebets | 15 |
| Mindfreak | 16 |
Outro
Read More about Live Ratings and Team Selected Seeding in our 2025 Rulebook Update and Tournament Seeding for ESL Pro League updates.
To keep up to date with our plans for 2025 and not miss any important updates, as always, make sure to sign up for our newsletter and follow ESLCS on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
