Jordan Woodruff
Group Vitality and Natus Vincere received their respective teams Tuesday and clinched byes into the playoff semifinals of the Intel Excessive Grasp Katowice occasion in Poland.
On the ultimate day of the group stage, Vitality swept Virtus.professional 2-0 within the Group A upper-bracket last and Natus Vincere defeated The MongolZ by the identical rating to win Group B.
Virtus.professional and The MongolZ had already been assured playoff spots by advantage of their top-two group finishes. The opposite two groups to qualify for the playoffs have been Everlasting Hearth and Group Spirit, the latter of whom needed to win twice Tuesday to clinch third place in Group B.
Group play featured 16 groups cut up into two double-elimination brackets, with all matches best-of-three. The 2 group-phase winners superior on to the playoff semifinals, the 2 group-phase runners-up moved to the quarterfinals as excessive seeds, and the 2 third-place groups made the quarterfinals as low seeds.
The playoffs shall be single elimination, with best-of-three matches for the quarterfinals and semifinals forward of a best-of-five grand last on Sunday. The champion will earn $400,000.
On Tuesday, Vitality scored a 13-8 win on Anubis and a 13-5 on Inferno to defeat Virtus.professional. French star Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut led Vitality with 32 kills and a plus-13 kills-to-deaths differential.
Within the Group A lower-bracket last, Everlasting Hearth defeated FaZe 2-0 in dramatic vogue. After a 13-4 victory on Anubis, they went deep into extra time earlier than pulling out a 25-22 win on Nuke. Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dortkardes (57 kills, plus-14) and Engin “MAJ3R” Kupeli (53 kills, plus-14) paced the all-Turkish Everlasting Hearth squad.
The Group B upper-bracket last noticed Natus Vincere beat The MongolZ 13-3 on Mirage and 13-9 on Historic. Ukraine’s Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy posted 35 kills and a plus-15 Okay-D for NaVi, and three of his teammates completed with 30 kills.
Within the Group B decrease bracket, GamerLegion swept Astralis 13-7 on Nuke and 13-7 once more on Mirage. Group Spirit additionally superior by beating Group Liquid 13-10 on Nuke and 13-8 on Mud II.
After they met within the lower-bracket last, GamerLegion struck first with a 13-11 end result on Anubis, however Spirit rallied by successful 13-6 on Historic and 13-4 on Nuke.
Danil “donk” Kryshkovets of Russia had 55 kills and a plus-14 and countryman Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov had 50 kills on a plus-18 for Spirit. Fredrik “REZ” Sterner of Sweden led GamerLegion in defeat with 43 kills on a plus-1.
The match continues Friday with two quarterfinal matches:
–The MongolZ vs. Everlasting Hearth
–Virtus.professional vs. Group Spirit
Intel Excessive Masters Katowice prize pool:
1. $400,000
2. $180,000
3-4. $80,000
5-6. $40,000
7-8. $24,000 — FaZe Clan, GamerLegion
9-12. $16,000 — G2 Esports, 3DMAX, Astralis, Group Liquid
13-16. $10,000 — Group Falcons, BIG, FURIA Esports, MOUZ
17-20. $4,500 — Wildcard, paiN Gaming, MIBR, HEROIC
21-24. $2,500 — Complexity, FlyQuest, SAW, Imperial Feminine
–Discipline Degree Media