TSM, OG, 9Pandas and Team Secret won their decider matches on Thursday to qualify for the group stage of the Riyadh Masters.
They joined Quest Esports, Team Aster and Team Liquid, each of whom qualified with strong performances on Wednesday, and Xtreme Gaming, which finished second in Group B on Thursday as part of the two-day sprint to earn group-stage berths.
All matches in the play-in stage were best-of-two in a single round-robin format. The top two teams from each group — Aster and Liquid in Group A, Quest and Xtreme in Group B — advanced to the group stage.
The third- to sixth-place teams from each group were then matched up with teams from the opposite group for best-of-three decider matches. The winners advanced while the losers went home.
TSM beat beastcoast 2-0, winning in 31 minutes on green and 58 minutes on red.
OG took down Entity 2-0, with a 42-minute victory on red and a 30-minute triumph on green.
9Pandas rallied past Virtus.pro 2-1. Virtus.pro opened with a 37-minute victory on green, but 9Pandas answered with wins of 32 minutes and 30 minutes on red.
Team Secret defeated Execration 2-1. Execration pulled out a 47-minute win on red to start before Secret prevailed in 37 minutes on red and in 37 minutes on green for the reverse sweep.
The $15 million Riyadh Masters features 20 teams, eight of which qualified directly to the group stage.
The Group Stage begins Friday and features two groups of eight teams each. Those matches are best-of-two in a single round-robin format. The top four teams advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs while the fifth- and sixth-place teams from each group advance to the lower bracket. The remaining teams are eliminated.
The playoffs are from July 25-30 and will be double elimination. All matches are best-of-three except for the grand final, which is best-of-five.
The winning team pockets $5 million with $2.5 million going to the runner-up.
Play-in action continues on Thursday with 16 matches, eight in Group A and eight in Group B.
Riyadh Masters prize pool
1. $5 million — TBD
2. $2.5 million — TBD
3. $1.7 million — TBD
4. $1.2 million — TBD
5-6. $800,000 — TBD
7-8. $500,000 — TBD
9-12. $300,000 — TBD
13-14. $200,000 — TBD
15-16. $100,000 — TBD
17-20. $50,000 — beastcoast, Entity, Virtus.pro, Execration
–Field Level Media