The Poles clinched a place in the event after a full-distance, best-of-five grand final.

9INE eked out a laborious 3-2 win against BLUEJAYS in the grand final of ESL Challenger League Season 42 Europe to earn themselves a $20,000 payday as well as a place at ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference.

At the ESL Pro League Season 17 prelude, 9INE will go toe-to-toe with the likes of Outsiders and ESL Challenger League Season 41 Europe victors Falcons, all vying for a shot at being one of the six teams who will secure a main event berth.

KEi put up a massive 1.43 rating in the best-of-five grand final

9INE were originally set to miss out on the playoffs altogether after their 1-2 record in Group C had them finish as the third seed. In the end, however, FORZE's withdrawal from the competition gifted the Poles a second chance, with the squad getting back in the server to try their hand at making it through the knockout stage.

Wiktor "⁠mynio⁠" Kruk and company were sent down to the lower bracket in the second round, suffering a lopsided 0-2 defeat at the hands of their eventual grand final opponents: BLUEJAYS. From there, the Polish roster staved off elimination three times, scoring wins over higher-rated teams like HEET, Bad News Eagles, and 1WIN, before eventually squaring off against the North Macedonians once again, suffering an automatic one-map disadvantage due to their lower-bracket run.

9INE's best-of-five rematch versus the North Macedonians was a far more arduous affair than their first meeting. The Poles initially dropped Mirage (17-19), before rebounding with victories on Vertigo (16-6) and Dust2 (16-14), before closing things out and completing the reverse sweep with a comfortable win on Overpass (16-7). Kamil "⁠KEi⁠" Pietkun was key in enabling his team to nab the top prize, averaging a 1.18 rating over the 24 maps played — a team high.

Read more Lynn Vision qualify for ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference

The remaining slots in ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference will be filled by the winners of ESL Challenger League Season 42 North America, which currently has Nouns and ATK awaiting their grand final matchup, followed by the victors of several other national competitions from around Europe, Australia, and South America.

The teams currently qualified for ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference are:

Outsiders
Imperial
paiN
Lynn Vision
9INE Movistar Riders
Falcons
Rare Atom
Genk ESL Challenger League Season 42 EuropeBest of 5 BLUEJAYSMatchpage 2 3 23rd October 2022 9INE 1Default 0 19Mirage 17 6Vertigo 16 14Dust2 16 8Overpass 16

BLUEJAYS	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Aleksandar 'CacaNito' KjulukoskiCacaNito	88 - 77	+11	86.6	1.18
Jane 'aidKiT' ApostoloskiaidKiT	81 - 69	+12	74.7	1.16
Damjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovskikyxsan	81 - 80	+1	82.8	1.03
Pavle 'stYleEeZ' StojanovskistYleEeZ	63 - 76	-13	63.8	0.83
Daniel 'dan1' Gligorovdan1	48 - 87	-39	52.2	0.66

9INE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Kamil 'KEi' PietkunKEi	102 - 68	+34	91.1	1.43
Kacper 'Kylar' WalukiewiczKylar	79 - 71	+8	74.9	1.09
Grzegorz 'SZPERO' DziamałekSZPERO	75 - 71	+4	64.7	1.03
Krzysztof 'Goofy' GórskiGoofy	71 - 75	-4	77.4	1.02
Wiktor 'mynio' Krukmynio	62 - 79	-17	69.2	0.88

Movistar Riders #23 Alejandro 'alex' MasanetAlejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo CanoPere 'sausol' Solsona SaumellDavid 'dav1g' Granado BermudoAntonio 'MartinezSa' Martinez Kamil 'KEi' Pietkun Age: 21 Team: 9INE Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 699 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.70 Imperial #20 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaRicardo 'boltz' PrassMarcelo 'chelo' CespedesVinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo Outsiders #7 Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevAlexey 'Qikert' GolubevDzhami 'Jame' AliDavid 'n0rb3r7' DanielyanPetr 'fame' Bolyshev Genk #198 Kyle 'Xaka' GattNils 'ReFuZR' GrootMilan 'CrePoW' LibbrechtJacob 'Rezst' HemmingGytis 'ryu' Glušauskas 1WIN #31 Egor 'flamie' VasilyevIgor 'lollipop21k' SolodkovAleksandr 'TRAVIS' TimkivAleksandr 'glowiing' MatsievichDenis 'deko' Zhukov BLUEJAYS #60 Pavle 'stYleEeZ' StojanovskiAleksandar 'CacaNito' KjulukoskiDaniel 'dan1' GligorovDamjan 'kyxsan' StoilkovskiJane 'aidKiT' Apostoloski 9INE #113 Grzegorz 'SZPERO' DziamałekWiktor 'mynio' KrukKrzysztof 'Goofy' GórskiKamil 'KEi' PietkunKacper 'Kylar' Walukiewicz Bad News Eagles #24 Rigon 'rigoN' GashiSener 'SENER1' MahmutiFlatron 'juanflatroo' HalimiDionis 'sinnopsyy' BudeciGenc 'gxx-' Kolgeci Lynn Vision #102 Heng 'expro' YangZhe 'Westmelon' NiuSike 'z4kr' ZhangLizhi 'Starry' YeNiu 'Nelly' Zhe FORZE #33 Andrey 'Jerry' MekhryakovAleksandr 'zorte' ZagodyrenkoAleksandr 'shalfey' Marenov ATK #41 Jonathan 'b0denmaster' BodenmalmIan 'motm' HardyMichael 'Swisher' SchmidGareth 'MisteM' RiesRhys 'Fadey' Armstrong Rare Atom #67 Zhuo 'advent' LiangZhiHong 'aumaN' LiuAndrew 'kaze' KhongYi 'JamYoung' YangJingxiang 'Mercury' Wang HEET #30 Audric 'JACKZ' JugAlexandre 'bodyy' PianaroThomas 'Djoko' PavoniPierre 'Ex3rcice' BulingeAurélien 'afro' Drapier paiN #21 Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoWesley 'hardzao' LopesRodrigo 'biguzera' BittencourtFelipe 'skullz' MedeirosRomeu 'zevy' Rocco Wiktor 'mynio' Kruk Age: 27 Team: 9INE Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 816 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.71 Nouns #47 Danny 'Cxzi' StrzelczykDavid 'cynic' PolsterBrendan 'Bwills' WilliamsJeorge 'Jeorge' EndicottCarson 'nosraC' O'Reilly Falcons #38 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittAli 'hAdji' HaïnoussBryan 'Maka' CandaKévin 'misutaaa' RabierJordan 'Python' Munck-Foehrle