Astralis, HEROIC and 100 Thieves head Pulse Beat II roster

Stake announced that 14 teams qualified through open registration to attend Pulse Beat II, scheduled Sept. 21–26 in Stockholm. The organizer used the VRS rankings from Aug. 3 to select the highest-ranked registrants. Confirmed entrants include Astralis, HEROIC, 100 Thieves, fnatic, Virtus.pro and EYEBALLERS.

Two remaining berths will be decided by open qualifiers on Aug. 20 and Aug. 21. The qualifiers use a single-elimination bracket with best-of-one matches until the final, which is best-of-three. Winners of the qualifiers receive a complimentary tournament package; teams that registered paid $3,000 for the package. The package covers accommodation, practice facilities, meals, local transportation and full player access for the event.

At the main event, the 14 teams will be placed into four GSL groups. Group matches are best-of-three. The top two teams from each group will advance to an eight-team single-elimination playoff to determine the champion and divide the $60,000 prize pool.

Pulse Beat II will award VRS points, allowing teams to improve their standings before the Nov. 2 cut-off for qualifying toward PGL Major Singapore.

Stake hosted the first Pulse Beat earlier this year, where Betclic defeated Team Liquid to win the title. Pulse Beat II continues the organizer’s series of live events that combine direct entries and open-entry qualification for professional Counter-Strike teams.