On a day a trio of teams booked playoff spots and another three were eliminated at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major in Germany, it was hard to find a team more relieved at the end of Sunday’s Stage 3 action than Team Falcons.
Unless you’re looking at The MongolZ.
Team Vitality and Aurora Gaming joined Falcons in advancing to the playoffs out of the Round 4 high matches, while Monte — who fell to MongolZ — was eliminated in the low matches, along with MOUZ and Legacy.
At the start of Stage 3, 16 teams were still standing at the Counter-Strike 2 tournament that began with 32 entrants, competing for their share of a $1.25 million prize pool with the grand final scheduled for June 21. The champion receives $500,000.
Stage 3 utilizes a Swiss System format and all matches are best-of-three. The top eight finishers will proceed to the playoffs next week while the bottom three will be eliminated.
Falcons won a marathon third map, needing two overtimes to down Natus Vincere 2-1 to book a spot in the playoffs. After Falcons topped Natus Vincere 13-3 on Dust II, they lost 13-7 on Mirage. After the teams were tied 12-12 at the end of regulation on Anubis, they again were even at 15-15 at the end of the first overtime. Falcons dominated the second extra frame, outscoring Natus Vincere 4-1 in the second OT to win the map 19-16.
Russia’s Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov led the way for the Falcons with 57 kills and a plus-21 kill-death differential. Natus Vincere’s Mihai “iM” Ivan of Romania also posted 57 kills in the loss.
In the biggest blowout of the day, Aurora handled 9z Team 2-0, winning 13-1 on Nuke and 13-5 on Dust II. Caner “soulfly” Kesici led all-Turkish Aurora with 34 kills and a plus-18. Argentina’s Luciano “luchov” Herrera posted a team-high 20 kills in the loss.
In the third high match, Vitality took Overpass 13-8 and Nuke 13-11 to sweep BetBoom Team. Despite the short match, France’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut tallied 53 kills and a plus-19 in the win. BetBoom, made up entirely of Russian players, was led by Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov’s 36 kills.
As for MongolZ, they sat one map from elimination after dropping Nuke 13-9 to Monte. But they responded with a 13-7 win on Inferno and 13-11 win on Dust II to survive and send Monte home.
FUT Esports beat MOUZ 13-11 on Ancient before dropping Nuke 13-10. FUT emerged in the winner-take-all final map with a 13-7 win on Mirage. The final low match of the day provided the round’s only sweep, with G2 Esports beating Legacy 13-7 on Dust II and 13-4 on Overpass.
Monday will see the six remaining teams play for the final three available playoff spots in a trio of elimination matches.
Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major
Monday’s schedule
–9z Team vs. The MongolZ
–BetBoom Team vs. FUT Esports
–Natus Vincere vs. G2 Esports
Prize Pool
1. $500,000
2. $170,000
3-4. $80,000
5-8. $45,000
9-11. $15,000
12-14. $15,000 — MOUZ, Monte, Legacy
15-16. $15,000 — B8, PARIVISION
17-19. $10,000 — paiN Gaming, TYLOO, BIG
20-22. $10,000 — MIBR, M80, Astralis
23-24. $10,000 — GamerLegion, FlyQuest
25-27. $5,000 — Lynn Vision Gaming, NRG, Team Liquid
28-30. $5,000 — THUNDERdOWNUNDER, Sharks Esports, HEROIC
31-32. $5,000 — Gaimin Gladiators, SINNERS Esports
–Field Level Media
