Apeks and FaZe Clan each won their respective Round 4 high matches on Wednesday in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: Challengers Stage in France.
Apeks posted a 2-1 win over paiN Gaming and FaZe secured a 2-0 victory over FORZE in the best-of-three sets to improve to 3-1 in the stage. Ninjas in Pyjamas seized a 2-0 win over Grayhound Gaming in the other Round 4 high match.
The $1.25 million BLAST.tv Paris Major is running from May 8-21, with 24 teams playing offline in Paris. The champion will earn not only a $500,000 payday and 3,500 BLAST Premier points, but also automatic qualification into both IEM Cologne 2023 and the BLAST Premier World Final.
The Challengers Stage is using the Swiss System format, where after the opening match teams are divided into “high” and “low” matches. Elimination and advancement matches are best-of-three, and all other matches are best-of-one. The top eight teams advance to the Legends Stage, while the bottom eight are eliminated.
After the Legends Stage, which will also employ the Swiss System with 16 teams, the Champions Stage will be a single-elimination bracket with all matches best-of-three. The final is scheduled for May 21.
On Wednesday, Apeks sandwiched a 16-11 win on Ancient and 16-9 victory on Anubis around a 16-13 setback on Vertigo.
FaZe had an easier time of it versus FORZE, posting a 16-12 win on Overpass and 16-11 victory on Nuke.
NiP notched a 16-11 triumph on Mirage and 16-12 win on Inferno.
In Wednesday’s two Round 4 low matches, Team Liquid and Monte each recorded 2-0 sweeps over Complexity and The MongolZ, respectively, while GamerLegion secured a 2-1 victory over OG.
Liquid seized a 16-11 win on Anubis and 16-3 victory on Overpass, while Monte notched a 16-13 triumph on Nuke and 16-12 win on Anubis. GamerLegion sandwiched a 16-13 triumph on Overpass and 16-7 victory on Ancient around a 16-8 setback on Mirage.
The Challengers Stage continues Thursday with three matches:
–FORZE vs. GamerLegion
–Grayhound Gaming vs. Team Liquid
–pain Gaming vs. Monte
–Field Level Media