Sparks are flying in Stage 1 of ESL Pro League Season 22 at the ESL Studio venue in Stockholm, Sweden. Not one but two serious underdogs have sent shockwaves through the Counter-Strike 2 community, topping the leaderboard, while certain favorites have struggled to perform.

Despite being two of the lowest-ranked competitors among the 16 teams, HOTU and Inner Circle have gone 3-0. With the clean match record, they’ve become the first teams to make it through Stage 1.

HOTU and Inner Circle reign supreme at EPL S22

At the start of EPL Season 22 Stage 1, HOTU held a #45 spot on the Valve Regional Standings (VRS), the third-lowest at EPL Season 22.

That didn’t stop the HOTU from claiming the huge scalp of FURIA, the top-ranked team in Stage 1 and #2 on the VRS, with a 2-0 win. FURIA won their first S-Tier LAN event at FISSURE Playground 2, making HOTU’s clean win both utterly impressive and surprising.

With momentum on their side, HOTU pulled off a reverse-sweep comeback against B8 for a 2-1 win, and took care of business for a clean 2-0 win against ENCE for a 3-0 match score, thereby topping EPL Season 22 Stage 1 in style.

Ukrainian squad Inner Circle (previously Team Next Level) was the fourth-lowest-ranked team at EPL Season 22 (#44 on the VRS).

Despite being clear underdogs, Inner Circle impressed right from the start, reverse-sweeping the French side 3DMAX (#11 on the VRS) in their opening match. Inner Circle didn’t slow down in the Round 2 matchup against GamerLegion, scoring a 2-1 win.

In the Round 3 match against Gentle Mates, Inner Circle had their big-match temperament on full display, pulling off a reverse-sweep comeback for a match score of 3-0 in Stage 1.

With the win, Inner Circle punched their ticket to Stage 2, proving to fans and other competitors that they are a force to be reckoned with.

Favorites G2, Astralis, and FURIA in trouble

Three of the top four teams heading into Stage 1 based on VRS rankings are in deep trouble. FURIA (#2), G2 Esports (#7), and Astralis (#10) are all hanging on by threads, one loss away from elimination.

All three of these teams are now in the 1-2 bracket, which means they’ll need to win two matches in a row to secure a spot in Stage 2 of the tournament.

G2 Esports is set to face Fluxo, Astralis will fight HEROIC, and FURIA will battle M80 in the Round 4 Low Matches on October 1. The winners of these matches will compete in a final round for 2-2 teams on October 2.

Stage 1 will conclude on October 2, with eight teams earning spots in Stage 2, joining the eight direct invites. They will then compete in another 16-team Swiss System format to secure a place in the single-elimination playoffs.