HellRaisers have avoided relegation from ESL Pro League by beating both Penta and BIG in the relegation playoffs.

The double-elimination playoff bracket pitted HellRaisers against PENTA in the first round of the relegation playoffs. PENTA, who were fresh of a victory at the ESEA Global Challenge LAN, were blown out of the water by the Eastern European side with a convincing 2-0.

bondik was a big factor in the deciding game

HellRaisers' series against BIG started rough, with the German side managing a comeback on Cobblestone to close out the first map in their favor. On Overpass, Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik's continued their strong from and got off to a 7-1 lead, but they let HellRaisers come back into the match, with a Patrik "⁠Zero⁠" Žúdel clutch on A playing a pivotal part to HR's resurgence.

After closing out the second map with a 10-0 CT side, HellRaisers went 13-2 on the CT half of Train, leaving BIG no room for a comeback after winning the Terrorist side pistol. The score was 16-2 in the end, with a 2-1 for the series.

ESL Pro League Season 5 Europe RelegationBest of 3 HellRaisersMatchpage 2 1 17th May 2017 BIG 10Cobblestone 16 16Overpass 9 16Train 2

HellRaisers	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowANGE1	59 - 44	+15	103.8	1.47
Vladyslav 'bondik' Nechyporchukbondik	63 - 40	+23	88.8	1.35
Bence 'DeadFox' BöröczDeadFox	51 - 40	+11	72.4	1.21
Patrik 'Zero' ŽúdelZero	49 - 39	+10	69.8	1.19
Martin 'STYKO' StykSTYKO	39 - 42	-3	65.8	1.01

BIG	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Johannes 'tabseN' WodarztabseN	55 - 59	-4	96.2	1.12
Nikola 'LEGIJA' NinićLEGIJA	41 - 49	-8	67.4	0.87
Johannes 'nex' Magetnex	35 - 49	-14	56.9	0.78
Kevin 'keev' Bartholomäuskeev	39 - 51	-12	57.3	0.75
Fatih 'gob b' Dayikgob b	35 - 54	-19	52.9	0.69

In the lower bracket, the legendary Polish side Virtus.pro was fighting to avoid relegation against the European mixture PENTA after losing to BIG 2-0 in the first match. Despite losing to HellRaisers in their first match of ESL Pro League, PENTA's form was still fairly good considering their LAN win last weekend.

After two tight maps, it was the underdog side lead by the Finnish duo Jesse "⁠zehN⁠" Linjala-Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi that took the victory, keeping their Pro League dream alive and relegating Virtus.pro to ESEA Premier for the next season.

ESL Pro League Season 5 Europe RelegationBest of 3 PENTAMatchpage 2 0 17th May 2017 Virtus.pro 16Inferno 7 16Train 7

PENTA	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Miikka 'suNny' KemppisuNny	49 - 22	+27	98.6	1.66
Jesse 'zehN' LinjalazehN	43 - 24	+19	95.7	1.53
Kevin 'HS' TarnHS	39 - 32	+7	94.7	1.31
Paweł 'innocent' Mocekinnocent	30 - 27	+3	70.2	1.06
Kevin 'kRYSTAL' AmendkRYSTAL	22 - 28	-6	56.5	0.87

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	35 - 37	-2	86.0	1.07
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	31 - 35	-4	82.3	0.97
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	29 - 37	-8	61.8	0.77
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	20 - 40	-20	63.2	0.61
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	18 - 34	-16	54.9	0.60

Professeur writes for HLTV.org and can be found on Twitter.

Virtus.pro #4 Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasFilip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiJanusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'byali' Bieliński Jesse 'zehN' Linjala Age: 25 Team: PENTA Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 194 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.64 HellRaisers #8 Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowVladyslav 'bondik' NechyporchukMartin 'STYKO' StykPatrik 'Zero' ŽúdelBence 'DeadFox' Böröcz Miikka 'suNny' Kemppi Age: 22 Team: PENTA Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 533 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.69 Fatih 'gob b' Dayik Age: 29 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 0.83 Maps played: 575 KPR: 0.55 DPR: 0.68 BIG #27 Fatih 'gob b' DayikNikola 'LEGIJA' NinićJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzKevin 'keev' BartholomäusJohannes 'nex' Maget Patrik 'Zero' Žúdel Age: 18 Team: HellRaisers Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 427 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.63 PENTA #21 Jesse 'zehN' LinjalaPaweł 'innocent' MocekMiikka 'suNny' KemppiKevin 'kRYSTAL' AmendKevin 'HS' Tarn