Counter Strike 2: Lynn Vision Gaming (LVG) and Virtus.pro (VP) will withdraw from ESL Pro League Season 22 due to inability to field a full roster and will be replaced by Gentle Mates and EN

ESL announced on Saturday via its official Twitter account that Lynn Vision Gaming (LVG) and Virtus.pro (VP) will withdraw from ESL Pro League Season 22 due to inability to field a full roster. They will be replaced by Gentle Mates and ENCE.

According to ESL's official statement, this decision was made pursuant to ESL Article 3.2.6 - Last Minute Replacements.

This article states that if a team withdraws from a tournament within two weeks of the tournament, the organizer will award an invitation to the highest-ranked team in the VRS rankings. Only teams holding valid visas for the tournament's host country or region will be considered.

Although ESL did not disclose the reasons why BETBOOM (BB), Fnatic, SAW, and Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP), who were ranked ahead of Gentle Mates, were not invited, it is widely believed that these organizations declined ESL's invitation.

It is worth noting that this sudden change may disrupt Gentle Mates' schedule.

The Spanish team is participating in the Birch Cup in Gdansk, Poland, which runs until Sunday evening. The same day, the EPL Pro League Season 22 Stage 1 kicks off, with 16 teams set to face off in the first round.

If Gentle Mates advances to the Birch Cup semifinals, they will likely have to forfeit their match to arrive in Sweden in time for the ESL-organized Counter Strike 2 tournament.