The European relegation matches for ESL Pro League Season 5 have come to an end, with LDLC and Heroic earning spots in the upcoming season of ESL's premier competition.

The matches that decided which teams were going to be in the next season of ESL Pro League were set to be played today, starting with the showdown between the French-Belgian team LDLC and PENTA - the rag-tag European mix put together to represent the German organization.

Ex6TenZ will be playing against the elite again

The series started well for Penta, who were carried to a 16-11 win on Overpass by their stand-in Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný. The Czech, who is still under contract with mousesports, put up 31 kills on the first map alone and remained a consistent contributor throughout the series.

Penta weren't able to close out the series on their pick, Cache, with Antoine "⁠to1nou⁠" Pirard having a field day on the map, and LDLC pushed the series to the decider - Dust2. The final map was a close one, but Kévin "⁠Ex6TenZ⁠" Droolans and co. managed to take the lead towards the end, grabbing a spot in ESL Pro League with a 16-14 win.

ESL Pro League Season 4 Europe RelegationBest of 3 PENTAMatchpage 1 2 18th January 2017 LDLC 16Overpass 11 12Cache 16 14Dust2 16

PENTA	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastnýoskar	75 - 52	+23	101.9	1.40
Miikka 'suNny' KemppisuNny	67 - 60	+7	85.2	1.23
Kevin 'kRYSTAL' AmendkRYSTAL	61 - 61	0	79.1	1.04
Mike 'mikeS' TunsmikeS	56 - 56	0	64.2	0.96
Stefan 'stfN' SeierstfN	38 - 64	-26	56.6	0.77

LDLC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Kévin 'Ex6TenZ' DroolansEx6TenZ	68 - 54	+14	96.0	1.28
Antoine 'to1nou' Pirardto1nou	70 - 57	+13	75.7	1.18
Alex 'ALEX' McMeekinALEX	57 - 63	-6	77.4	1.03
Alexandre 'xms' Fortéxms	58 - 66	-8	73.9	0.95
Valentin 'mistou' Balbastromistou	40 - 57	-17	59.9	0.82

The series between HEROIC and Rogue followed, with the Danish-Bulgarian mixture edging the first map, Train, with a 16-14 scoreline. The Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer and co. replied with a 16-11 win on Nuke, tieing the score of the series at 1-1.

It all came down to Mirage, where HEROIC were off to a dominant 12-0 start before Rogue could get a round on board. With the massive lead, it was just a question of time before HEROIC would close out the series to remain in ESL Pro League for another season.

ESL Pro League Season 4 Europe RelegationBest of 3 HEROICMatchpage 2 1 18th January 2017 Rogue 14Train 16 16Nuke 11 16Mirage 1

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensenniko	66 - 42	+24	93.6	1.39
Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangsåvalde	62 - 47	+15	91.0	1.30
Andreas 'MODDII' FridhMODDII	59 - 45	+14	83.0	1.22
Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferSnappi	49 - 37	+12	64.2	1.09
Michael 'Friis' JørgensenFriis	40 - 39	+1	67.0	0.98

Rogue	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN	56 - 54	+2	78.6	1.03
Jesper 'TENZKI' PlougmannTENZKI	47 - 58	-11	67.9	0.91
Kamen 'bubble' Kostadinovbubble	35 - 52	-17	65.6	0.82
Nicolai 'glace' Jensenglace	42 - 54	-12	59.3	0.81
Viktor 'v1c7oR' Dyankovv1c7oR	30 - 58	-28	54.1	0.63

With these results, the following teams will compete in the European division of ESL Pro League Season 5:

Astralis	Envy
FaZe	fnatic
G2	HellRaisers
MOUZ	Natus Vincere
Ninjas in Pyjamas	Dignitas*
Virtus.pro	Kinguin
LDLC	HEROIC

*HLTV was informed by ESL that dignitas' ESL Pro League spot is still under review. 

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