The Canadian counter-Strike team Sprout just missed the jump to the ESL Pro League (EPL). Until the last matchday of the play-in phase, known as the "Conference", the Germans had been fighting for a place in the EPL.

After Sprout lost his opening game, the Germans fought their way through the entire Lower Bracket, defeating teams such as MAD Lions and Endpoint, among others. In the end, however, Sprout could not reward himself for the good performance. Two narrow 14:16 defeats in the Lower bracket final against the Brazilian team Godsent meant the end of the EPL dreams for Sprout.

Sprout player Josef "faveN" Baumann was very disappointed on Twitter: "It was like always, we always lose the important games. I'm just disappointed. And I'm also sorry for our fans that you didn't deserve that.»