Nigma Galaxy and Tundra Esports advanced to the upper bracket final of the Gamers Galaxy: Invitational Series Dubai 2022 with victories Friday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Nigma Galaxy swept OG 2-0 in one upper-bracket match. Tundra came from behind to defeat Group B champion BOOM Esports 2-1 in the other.
OG then moved to the lower bracket, where it was eliminated in a 2-1 defeat to Team Spirit.
Nine teams are competing for a share of a 1 million Emirati dirham prize pool, which equates to $272,532. After best-of-one contests in the Group Stage and best-of-three Play-In matches, the Playoff Stage will be best-of-three until the best-of-five Grand Final.
Nigma Galaxy defeated OG in 33 minutes on red and 36 minutes on green. Russian Igor “iLTW” Filatov lead the victors with an average kills-deaths-assists ratio of 5.5/1.0/10.0, while teammate Maroun “GH” Merhej of Lebanon racked up 33 total assists.
BOOM earned the first map against Tundra in 31 minutes on red before Tundra stormed back with wins of 35 and 40 minutes, respectively, both on red. Oliver “skiter” Lepko of Slovakia averaged a 10.3/2.3/7.0 K-D-A for Tundra, including a sparkling 15/0/12 in the decisive round.
Spirit opened the Playoff Stage in the lower bracket after qualifying via the Play-In round. It defeated OG in 38 minutes on red, but OG battled back with a 56-minute triumph on green. Spirit put the match away with a 38-minute win on red.
Ukraine’s Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk led Team Spirit with a K-D-A of 10.7/3.0/5.7.
The Playoff Stage will continue Saturday with three matches:
Nigma Galaxy vs. Tundra Esports (upper bracket final)
BOOM Esports vs. Team Secret (lower bracket round 1)
Team Spirit vs. BOOM-Secret winner (lower bracket round 2)
Gamers Galaxy: Invitational Series Dubai 2022 prize pool
1. $109,013
2. $54,507
3. $32,704
4. $21,803
5-6. $13,627 — OG, TBD
7-8. $8,176 — Nigma Galaxy SEA, TSM
9. $5,451 — Fnatic
–Field Level Media