Grayhound Gaming and paiN Gaming won 2-1 decisions in the mid-bracket semifinals to advance in Group C on Friday at the ESL Pro League Season 17 in Malta.
Grayhound defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas and paiN beat OG, knocking those two teams into a do-or-die lower-bracket semifinal Saturday. Meanwhile, Grayhound and paiN will battle for third place in the group.
Ninjas routed Grayhound 16-2 on Ancient to open the match, but Grayhound regrouped and took a 16-9 result on Vertigo. The deciding map was Mirage, where Grayhound eked out a 16-12 win.
Jay “Liazz” Tregillgas had 52 kills and a plus-5 kills-to-deaths differential to lead Grayhound, and teammate and fellow Australian Declan “Vexite” Portelli added 50 kills. Ukrainian Daniil “headtr1ck” Valitov of NiP led all players with 59 kills and a plus-14, and Denmark’s Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke had 56 kills.
Meanwhile, paiN eked out 16-14 wins over OG on Vertigo and Inferno sandwiched around a 16-8 setback on Overpass. Felipe “skullz” Medeiros carried the all-Brazilian paiN roster with 71 kills and a plus-17. Adam “NEOFRAG” Zouhar of the Czech Republic had 64 kills on a plus-6 to lead OG.
The $850,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began on Feb. 22 with 32 teams divided into four groups for the triple-elimination opening round.
Group A play finished on Feb. 26 with Cloud9 coming in first, Outsiders in second, G2 Esports in third and Fnatic in fourth. Group B action ended last week with Heroic in first, followed by MOUZ, FURIA Esports and Movistar Riders. Group D play will start on March 15.
The group-stage winners move into the quarterfinals, with the group runners-up heading to the Round of 12 as high seeds. The four third-place teams enter in the Round of 16 as high seeds, and the four fourth-place teams go to the Round of 16 as low seeds.
The tournament champion will receive $200,000 plus berths in the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne this summer and the BLAST Premier World Final in December.
Group C action continues Saturday with three matches:
–paiN Gaming vs. Grayhound (mid-bracket final)
–Rooster vs. 00 Nation (lower-bracket quarterfinals)
–OG vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas (lower-bracket semifinal)
ESL Pro League Season 17 prize pool and points distribution:
1. $200,000, 3,000 BLAST Premier points, qualification for Intel Extreme Masters Cologne and BLAST Premier World Final
2. $90,000, 2,000 BLAST Premier points
3-4. $50,000, 1,200 BLAST Premier points
5-8. $35,000, 500 BLAST Premier points
9-12. $25,000
13-16. $20,000
17-20. $15,000 — Eternal Fire, BIG
21-28. $8,000 — MIBR, IHC Esports, SAW, Complexity Gaming
29-32. $4,000 — Evil Geniuses, Imperial Esports
–Field Level Media