Natus Vincere and GamerLegion pulled off come-from-behind wins on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta event.
Natus Vincere overtook Team Vitality 2-1, advancing to a semifinal matchup with BetBoom Team. GamerLegion charged past paiN Gaming 2-1, earning a spot opposite Legacy in the semifinals.
The $300,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with 16 teams divided into two groups for the double-elimination opening round. The top six teams reached the single-elimination playoffs.
All matches are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final on Sunday. The winning side will receive $125,000.
On Friday, Team Vitality logged a 13-11 win on Dust II before Natus Vincere captured Anubis 13-11. On the decisive third map, Inferno, Natus Vincere rolled to a 13-3 victory.
Ukraine’s Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov totaled 59 kills and a plus-31 kill-death differential for Natus Vincere. France’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut posted 39 kills and a plus-19 K-D differential for Team Vitality.
paiN Gaming earned a 13-6 victory on Overpass, but GamerLegion stormed back to take Nuke 13-6 and Inferno 13-8. The Czech Republic’s Oldrich “PR” Novy posted 47 kills and a plus-10 K-D differential for GamerLegion. Guilherme “piriajr” Barbosa led all-Brazilian paiN Gaming with 57 kills and a plus-18 K-D differential.
Intel Extreme Masters Atlanta prize pool
1. $125,000
2. $50,000
3. $30,000
4. $20,000
5-6. $12,500 — Team Vitality, paiN Gaming
7-8. $7,000 — B8, Astralis
9-12. $5,000 — FUT Esports, FaZe Clan, SINNERS Esports, Team Liquid
13-16. $4,000 — BC.Game Esports, NRG, Passion UA, M80
–Field Level Media
