Team Spirit and The MongolZ lead the pack of eight Playoff-qualified teams at PGL Astana 2025.
PGL Astana 2025 completed its five-day, Swiss format Group Stage on Wednesday (14 May), with Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) powerhouses 
Team Spirit and 
The MongolZ leading the eight teams that qualified for the Playoffs. Rounding out the rest of the Playoff-qualified teams are 
Natus Vincere (NAVI), 
FURIA, 
Astralis, 
MIBR, 
Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP), and 
Aurora Gaming.
Meanwhile, 
G2 Esports, 
Virtus.pro (VP), 
ODDIK, 
BIG, 
paiN Gaming, 
HOTU, 
GamerLegion, and 
M80 failed to make it out of the Group Stage and have been eliminated early.
Here's how all the action in the PGL Astana 2025 Group Stage went down:
Spirit, MongolZ top PGL Astana 2025 Group Stage
Spirit and MongolZ were the first teams to qualify for the PGL Astana 2025 Playoffs, needing to play in only three rounds in the Group Stage to advance.
Spirit won every single map they played in, sweeping GamerLegion (13-11 in Mirage and Nuke), NiP (16-13 in Train, 13-4 in Dust II), and Astralis (13-7 in Dust II, 13-5 in Ancient). Meanwhile, MongolZ took down FURIA in three maps (13-4 in Mirage, 7-13 in Anubis, 13-9 in Inferno) before trouncing MIBR (13-5 in Mirage, 13-6 in Anubis) and NAVI (13-11 in Inferno and Mirage).
NAVI, FURIA, and Astralis were the next three teams to qualify for the Playoffs with 3-1 records apiece.
NAVI started their Group Stage campaign with back-to-back sweeps over M80 (13-4 in Dust II, 13-7 in Mirage) and BIG (13-8 in Inferno, 13-10 in Mirage) before falling to MongolZ in round three. NAVI recovered by taking down Aurora (13-11 in Train, 13-10 in Inferno) to punch their ticket to the Playoffs.
In contrast, FURIA stumbled against MongolZ in round one before winning three straight matches to advance. They scored back-to-back 2-1 victories over GamerLegion (13-9 in Anubis, 7-13 in Mirage, 13-9 in Nuke) and MIBR (13-4 in Train, 11-13 in Anubis, 13-8 in Inferno) before sweeping ODDIK (13-7 in Anubis, 13-6 in Train).
Then there's Astralis, who seem to be making a resurgence after 
Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen joined the team to take over as IGL. Astralis won their first two matches against ODDIK (13-9 in Dust II, 2-13 in Ancient, 13-7 in Inferno) and paiN (13-4 in Nuke, 13-9 in Inferno), lost to Spirit in round three, before overcoming VP (19-17 in Dust II, 9-13 in Inferno, 13-9 in Ancient) to advance to the Playoffs.
Meanwhile, MIBR, NiP, and Aurora secure the last three spots in the Playoffs after surviving all five rounds of the Group Stage.
Both MIBR and NiP won their opening matches, lost in rounds two and three, then recovered with back-to-back wins to qualify for the Playoffs. MIBR's three wins came against G2 (13-7 in Anubis, 8-13 in Ancient, 13-11 in Nuke), paiN (13-7 in Train, 13-8 in Mirage), and VP (13-11 in Mirage, 5-13 in Anubis, 13-11 in Ancient). On the other hand, NiP bested VP (13-11 in Train, 11-13 in Dust II, 13-9 in Ancient), HOTU (13-10 in Ancient, 13-7 in Nuke), and G2 (13-10 in Dust II and Nuke).
Finally, Aurora qualified for the Playoffs after losing in round one, winning in rounds two and three, losing again in round four, then advancing to the next stage of the tournament in round five. Aurora's three wins saw them take down HOTU (13-9 in Mirage, 13-16 in Anubis, 13-11 in Nuke), NiP (13-10 in Anubis, 9-13 in Train, 13-8 in Inferno), and ODDIK (13-4 in Dust II, 13-8 in Anubis).
With the conclusion of the Group Stage, PGL Astana 2025 will continue with its single-elimination Playoffs on Friday (16 May). All matches in the Playoffs will be a best-of-three except for the grand finals, which will be a full best-of-five series.
Here are the opening matchups for the PGL Astana 2025 Playoffs:
The eight teams in the PGL Astana 2025 Playoffs will be fighting to claim the lion's share of US$200,000 out of the tournament's US$625,000 prize pool. The Playoffs will also be hosted live in the Barys Arena in Astana, Kazakhstan.
