ESL Pro League Season 24: Live ratings replace Buchholz and change the road to Katowice

When ESL Pro League Season 24 opens on October 3, all 16 teams will encounter a seeding system that concretely changes how opponents are paired throughout the group stage – and thus which path leads to the playoff at Spodek Arena.

From Buchholz to dynamic live ratings

In the group stage (October 3–7), five Swiss rounds are played, all in best-of-three format. Three wins send a team through to the playoff, three losses mean elimination. The new element is that ESL replaces the Buchholz system with live ratings, which function as ELO-like values and are updated after each round. The seeding for the next round therefore reflects current tournament form rather than a static starting position. If, for example, the 16th-seeded team beats the 1st-seeded team, the rating is immediately adjusted upward – and the team will face stronger opponents in the next round.

The initial seeding is determined via Team Selected Seeding, the same method used in the last three seasons. One single change has been communicated, however: coin tosses are replaced by the most recently available VRS rankings in the event of tied seedings. Playoff seeding is likewise determined by live ratings in the case of identical records.

What it means for the teams

For the favourites – Spirit, Vitality, Falcons, MOUZ, and FURIA – the system means that a weak round quickly brings harder opponents along with it, even within the same group stage. For teams like Aurora and Legacy, both highlighted as potential dark horses, the opposite applies: strong early results can lift them in the ratings and provide a more favourable bracket on the way to the eight spots.

Only the eight best teams from the group stage advance to the single-elimination playoff at Spodek Arena (October 9–11), marking the first time ESL is hosting a Pro League season in that particular arena. The final is played in best-of-five format.