Jordan Woodruff
Team Vitality and Natus Vincere won their respective groups Tuesday and clinched byes into the playoff semifinals of the Intel Extreme Master Katowice event in Poland.
On the final day of the group stage, Vitality swept Virtus.pro 2-0 in the Group A upper-bracket final and Natus Vincere defeated The MongolZ by the same score to win Group B.
Virtus.pro and The MongolZ had already been guaranteed playoff spots by virtue of their top-two group finishes. The other two teams to qualify for the playoffs were Eternal Fire and Team Spirit, the latter of whom had to win twice Tuesday to clinch third place in Group B.
Group play featured 16 teams split into two double-elimination brackets, with all matches best-of-three. The two group-phase winners advanced directly to the playoff semifinals, the two group-phase runners-up moved to the quarterfinals as high seeds, and the two third-place teams made the quarterfinals as low seeds.
The playoffs will be single elimination, with best-of-three matches for the quarterfinals and semifinals ahead of a best-of-five grand final on Sunday. The champion will earn $400,000.
On Tuesday, Vitality scored a 13-8 win on Anubis and a 13-5 on Inferno to defeat Virtus.pro. French star Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut led Vitality with 32 kills and a plus-13 kills-to-deaths differential.
In the Group A lower-bracket final, Eternal Fire defeated FaZe 2-0 in dramatic fashion. After a 13-4 victory on Anubis, they went deep into overtime before pulling out a 25-22 win on Nuke. Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dortkardes (57 kills, plus-14) and Engin “MAJ3R” Kupeli (53 kills, plus-14) paced the all-Turkish Eternal Fire squad.
The Group B upper-bracket final saw Natus Vincere beat The MongolZ 13-3 on Mirage and 13-9 on Ancient. Ukraine’s Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy posted 35 kills and a plus-15 K-D for NaVi, and three of his teammates finished with 30 kills.
In the Group B lower bracket, GamerLegion swept Astralis 13-7 on Nuke and 13-7 again on Mirage. Team Spirit also advanced by beating Team Liquid 13-10 on Nuke and 13-8 on Dust II.
When they met in the lower-bracket final, GamerLegion struck first with a 13-11 result on Anubis, but Spirit rallied by winning 13-6 on Ancient and 13-4 on Nuke.
Danil “donk” Kryshkovets of Russia had 55 kills and a plus-14 and countryman Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov had 50 kills on a plus-18 for Spirit. Fredrik “REZ” Sterner of Sweden led GamerLegion in defeat with 43 kills on a plus-1.
The tournament continues Friday with two quarterfinal matches:
–The MongolZ vs. Eternal Fire
–Virtus.pro vs. Team Spirit
Intel Extreme Masters Katowice prize pool:
1. $400,000
2. $180,000
3-4. $80,000
5-6. $40,000
7-8. $24,000 — FaZe Clan, GamerLegion
9-12. $16,000 — G2 Esports, 3DMAX, Astralis, Team Liquid
13-16. $10,000 — Team Falcons, BIG, FURIA Esports, MOUZ
17-20. $4,500 — Wildcard, paiN Gaming, MIBR, HEROIC
21-24. $2,500 — Complexity, FlyQuest, SAW, Imperial Female
–Field Level Media
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