After winning the online qualification, #Grayhound were the first team from the Oceania Conference to secure their spot in Season 17 of the ESL Pro League. Now there is only one more available berth, Hello Kitten and Rooster will square off on Friday at 10:00 in the deciding match.

Meanwhile, the first team from Conference Asia of the ESL Pro League Season 17 event to secure a spot in Malta is Rare Atom. They managed to do so after sending #IHC to the lower bracket on the opening day of play, defeating #LynnVision 2-1 in a hard-fought match.

Grayhound – The Pride of Oceania

The Australian team has a rare opportunity to spend a significant amount of time practicing in Europe, where they will get the chance to compete against some of the finest players outside of their home continent, thanks to Grayhound's qualifying for ESL's premier league LAN event.

After the next IEM Katowice Play-In, the team's second LAN outside of Australia in 2023 will be the ESL Pro League Season 17.

After winning ESL ANZ Champs Season 15, the Joshua #INS Potter-led squad entered the three-team competition as the top seed. They earned their spot in the main event in Malta by defeating Rooster, 2-1, in the second round of the upper bracket.

Grayhound lost against Anubis (17-19) in overtime to begin the game, then defeated Inferno (16-2) with ease before winning the game against Nuke in a closely fought overtime match (19-15).

Eight more seats in the ESL Pro League Season 17 are still available, and they will be filled by the one additional team from Oceania and teams fighting in other Conference stages throughout Europe, North America, South America, and Asia.

Rare Atom Stepping In For Asia

After the third map of the series, which began with each team picking their favorite with ease, Rare Atom qualified. Anubis went to the winners, 16-8, while Lynn Vision pounded their way to 16-4 on Vertigo.

Mercury, who led the way in his team's first map triumph and topped the leaderboard, then put on a show on Overpass, leading his team to a 16-12 victory with 28 kills and an average rating of 1.64.

In the final game of the three-team qualification on Friday at 13:00, the two teams left in the Asia qualifier will have one final opportunity to secure a spot in the upcoming ESL Pro League.

There are still seven ESL Pro League spots available, including two each in North America and South America, one in each of Europe, Oceania, and Asia, where SAW, Eternal Fire, Grayhound, and Rare Atom have already qualified.

The total number of 32 teams will compete in the newly expanded ESL Pro League, which will run from February 22 to March 26. Double-elimination groups with a last-chance bracket have replaced the round-robin group stage that previously existed in the competition.