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ENCE and BIG earned semifinal berths in the Intel Extreme Masters Season XVII – Dallas by winning their upper-bracket group finals on Wednesday.

ENCE came from behind to beat FaZe Clan 2-1 to take Group A, and BIG edged FURIA Esports 2-1 to capture Group B. FaZe and FURIA are both headed to the quarterfinals.

FURIA’s quarterfinal foe on Friday will be G2 Esports, who advanced from the Group A lower bracket with a 2-0 victory over Team Vitality. The G2-FURIA winner will oppose ENCE in the semifinals on Saturday.

Cloud9 swept Team Liquid 2-0 to emerge from the lower bracket in Group B and earn a Friday quarterfinal date with FaZe Clan. The Cloud9-FaZe winner will face BIG in a Saturday semifinal.

The $250,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began with 16 teams divided into two groups for the double-elimination opening stage.

The first-round matches were best-of-one. All other matches through the group stage and the playoffs are best-of-three except for the final on Sunday, which will use a best-of-five format. The championship side will receive $100,000, 1,000 ESL Pro Tour points and 2,400 BLAST Premier points.

In Wednesday action, FaZe jumped on top by taking Mirage 16-12, but ENCE stormed back to win 16-12 on Ancient and 16-8 on Nuke. Poland’ Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski guided ENCE with 67 kills and a plus-16 kill-death differential. Canada’s Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken led FaZe with 67 kills and a plus-13 K-D differential.

BIG sandwiched a 16-8 win on Nuke and a 16-10 victory on Mirage around a 16-10 defeat to FURIA on Vertigo. Josef “faveN” Baumann led BIG’s all-German side with 59 kills, while teammate Florian “syrsoN” Rische paced the squad with a plus-18 K-D differential. Andrei “arT” Piovezan logged 62 kills and a plus-1 K-D differential for FURIA’s all-Brazilian team.

G2 dumped Vitality 16-7 on Dust II and 16-14 on Inferno. Bosnia’s Nikola “NiKo” Kovac finished with 46 kills and a plus-16 K-D differential for G2. France’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut produced 38 kills and a minus-3 K-D differential for Vitality.

Cloud9 defeated Liquid 16-5 on Ancient and 16-12 on Vertigo behind 42 kills and a plus-18 K-D differential from Russia’s Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov. The United States’ Josh “oSee” Ohm amassed 39 kills and a plus-2 K-D differential for Liquid.

Intel Extreme Masters Season XVII – Dallas prize pool and points distribution
1. $100,000, 1,000 ESL Pro Tour points, 2,400 BLAST Premier points
2. $42,000, 750 ESL Pro Tour points, 1,200 BLAST Premier points
3-4. $20,000, 525 ESL Pro Tour points, 750 BLAST Premier points
5-6. $10,000, 350 ESL Pro Tour points, 225 BLAST Premier points
7-8. $6,000, 200 ESL Pro Tour points, 225 BLAST Premier points — Team Vitality, Team Liquid
9-12. $5,000, 100 ESL Pro Tour points, no BLAST Premier points — Astralis, MOUZ, MIBR, Ninjas in Pyjamas
13-16. $4,000, no ESL Pro Tour points, no BLAST Premier points — Movistar Riders, Encore Esports Club, Imperial Esports, Complexity Gaming

–Field Level Media