Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports
FURIA Esports and BIG won Wednesday matches to become the third and fourth teams to clinch playoff berths in the Intel Extreme Masters Season XVII – Dallas event.
FURIA got past Cloud9 2-0, prevailing 16-9 on Vertigo and 16-13 on Mirage. Yuri “yuurih” Santos paced FURIA’s all-Brazilian squad with 48 kills and a plus-14 kill-death differential. Russia’s Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov topped Cloud9 with 40 kills and a plus-1 K-D differential.
BIG swept MIBR 2-0, taking Mirage 22-18 in double overtime and Nuke 16-4. Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz registered 53 kills and a plus-17 K-D differential for BIG. Marcelo “chelo” Cespedes logged 47 kills and a minus-1 K-D differential for MIBR’s all-Brazilian team.
FURIA and BIG will face off Wednesday in the Group B winners-bracket final. The victor will head to the playoff semifinals, while the loser will go to the playoff quarterfinals.
The Group A winners-bracket final on Wednesday will feature ENCE and FaZe Clan.
The $250,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament features 16 teams divided into two groups for the double-elimination opening stage. The group winners earn berths in the semifinals. The group runners-up move to the quarterfinals as high seeds, and the third-place teams in each group head to the quarterfinals as low seeds.
The first-round matches were best-of-one. All other matches through the group stage and the playoffs are best-of-three except for the final on Sunday, which will be a best-of-five format. The championship side will receive $100,000, 1,000 ESL Pro Tour points and 2,400 BLAST Premier points.
In Group B losers-bracket action on Tuesday, Team Liquid swept Imperial Esports 2-0 to earn a date with MIBR. Ninjas in Pyjamas downed Complexity Gaming 2-0 to earn a matchup with Cloud9.
G2 Esorts and Team Vitality advanced to the Group A losers-bracket final. G2 edged Astralis 2-1, and Vitality topped MOUZ 2-0.
Intel Extreme Masters Season XVII – Dallas prize pool and points distribution
1. $100,000, 1,000 ESL Pro Tour points, 2,400 BLAST Premier points
2. $42,000, 750 ESL Pro Tour points, 1,200 BLAST Premier points
3-4. $20,000, 525 ESL Pro Tour points, 750 BLAST Premier points
5-6. $10,000, 350 ESL Pro Tour points, 225 BLAST Premier points
7-8. $6,000, 200 ESL Pro Tour points, 225 BLAST Premier points
9-12. $5,000, 100 ESL Pro Tour points, no BLAST Premier points — Astralis, MOUZ, two teams TBD
13-16. $4,000, no ESL Pro Tour points, no BLAST Premier points — Movistar Riders, Encore Esports Club, Imperial Esports, Complexity Gaming
–Field Level Media