G2 Esports and ENCE punched their tickets to the Legends Stage of the BLAST.tv Paris Major by winning their Round 3 high matches in the Challengers Stage on Tuesday in France.
G2 defeated Apeks 2-0 and ENCE rallied past FaZe Clan 2-1 in the best-of-three sets, finishing the first three rounds of the stage at 3-0 to advance with ease.
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 Tuesday, G2 beat Apeks 16-11 on Anubis before routing them 16-3 on Inferno. ENCE dropped their opening map to FaZe Clan, 16-12 on Overpass, before tying the match with a 16-13 triumph on Nuke. The final map was Anubis, where ENCE prevailed 16-8.
In Tuesday’s two Round 3 low matches, GamerLegion eliminated MOUZ and Team Liquid did the same to Fluxo. GamerLegion won 16-12 on Mirage and 16-5 on Overpass for a 2-0 victory. Liquid fell 16-11 on Nuke before pulling out a 16-14 win on Inferno and a 16-13 result on Ancient.
There were also four best-of-one mid matches. Grayhound Gaming beat The MongolZ 16-10 on Nuke, paiN Gaming thrashed Complexity Gaming 16-4 on Nuke, FORZE Esports handled Monte 16-6 on Ancient and Ninjas in Pyjamas outlasted OG 19-17 in overtime on Mirage.
The Challengers Stage continues Wednesday with six matches:
–Apeks vs. paiN Gaming (Round 4 high)
–FaZe Clan vs. FORZE (Round 4 high)
–Grayhound Gaming vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas (Round 4 high)
–Complexity Gaming vs. Team Liquid (Round 4 low)
–The MongolZ vs. Monte (Round 4 low)
–OG vs. GamerLegion (Round 4 low)
–Field Level Media