(Photo credit: Nick Oza/The Republic via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
G2 Esports, PARIVISION and 3DMAX claimed upper-bracket victories in the second round of the play-in stage on Thursday at the Intel Extreme Masters Krakow event in Poland.
The $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began with 24 teams -- 16 competing in a double-elimination play-in bracket with eight already seeded straight into the group stage.
Play-in matches are best-of-three, with eight teams advancing.
The next stage will split the remaining teams into two groups of eight for double-elimination play involving best-of-three matches. The group winners earn spots in the playoff semifinals, the group runners-up head to the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams go to the playoff quarterfinals as low seeds.
The playoffs will feature a single-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches until the grand final on Feb. 8, which will be best-of-five.
The championship team will receive $400,000, and the runner-up will get $180,000.
On Thursday, PARIVISION knocked off Aurora Gaming 2-1, winning 13-5 on Mirage, dropping a decision by the same score on Anubis and capturing the match with a 13-4 victory on Dust II. The all-Russian PARIVISION was led by Vladislav 'xiELO' Lysov's 37-31 kill-death differential and 1.35 rating, and Ivan 'zweih' Gogin's 39-35 K-D and 1.20 rating.
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dortkardes of the all-Turkish Aurora Gaming posted a 38-36 K-D and 1.09 rating.
G2 Esports edged Team Liquid 2-1 in a dramatic match, winning 13-8 on Mirage, falling 13-6 on Inferno and then triumphing on Anubis 16-14 in overtime. G2 was paced by Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a 54-47 K-D differential and 1.33 rating. Team Liquid's Roland 'ultimate' Tomkowiak of Poland posted a 66-41 differential and 1.52 rating.
3DMAX swept BC.Game Esports 2-0, winning on Overpass 13-3 and Anubis 13-4. Lucas 'Lucky' Chastang paced the all-French 3DMAX with a 37-13 K-D and 2.02 rating. BC.Game did not have a player with a positive rating.
In Round 1 of the lower bracket, Ninjas in Pyjamas got the better of Passion UA, 2-1, after dropping the opener 13-8 on Overpass. NIP rallied to win on Nuke 13-5 and Anubis 13-10. Ukraine's Artem 'cairne' Mushynskyi paced NIP with a 59-42 K-D differential and 1.34 rating, followed by teammate Kacper 'xKacpersky' Gabara of Poland with a 50-42 K-D and 1.29 rating.
Passion UA was led by Ukraine's Vladyslav 'Kvem' Korol with a 50-47 K-D and the United States' Michael 'Grim' Wince with a 51-49 differential. Both players had a 1.12 rating.
FUT Esports swept Legacy 2-0 in the lower bracket, winning 13-7 on Dust II and 13-10 on Ancient. Ukraine's Dmytro 'dem0n' Myroshnychenko led FUT with a 45-22 K-D differential and 1.63 rating. Romania's Laurentiu 'lauNX' Tarlea contributed a 32-20 K-D and 1.31 rating to the victory.
Also in the lower bracket, paiN Gaming won a battle with B8 2-0, capturing Dust II 16-12 and Mirage 13-10. The all-Brazilian paiN Gaming was led by Joao 'snow' Vinicius with a 45-30 K-D differential and 1.35 rating, Lucas 'nqz' Soares with a 44-28 differential and 1.33 rating, and Vinicius 'vsm' Moreira with a 40-26 differential and 1.32 rating.
Friday's matches:
--Upper-bracket Round 2: Astralis vs. NRG
--Lower-bracket Round 1: GamerLegion vs. HEROIC
--Lower-bracket Round 2: BC.Game Esports vs. Ninjas in Pyjams
--Lower-bracket Round 2: Team Liquid vs. FUT Esports
--Lower-bracket Round 2: Aurora Gaming vs. paiN Gaming
--Lower-bracket Round 2: TBD vs. TBD
Intel Extreme Masters Krakow prize pool
1. $400,000
2. $180,000
3. $100,000
4. $60,000
5-6. $40,000
7-8. $24,000
9-12. $16,000
13-16. $10,000
17-20. $4,500
21-24. $2,500, Passion UA, Legacy, B8
--Field Level Media
