FaZe Clan, Team Vitality and Natus Vincere advanced to the BLAST.tv Austin Major playoffs with victories on Saturday in Texas.
In Round 4 high matches of Group Stage 3, FaZe Clan swept The Mongolz 2-0, Team Vitality routed Virtus.pro 2-0 and Natus Vincere defeated G2 Esports 2-1.
In three elimination matches, paiN Gaming swept 3DMAX 2-0, Legacy bounced Lynn Vision Gaming 2-1 and MOUZ knocked out Aurora Gaming 2-1.
The $1.25 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event, which began with 32 teams, features three Swiss-system group stages.
Sixteen teams advanced through qualifying events to reach Group Stage 1, where all early-round matches were a single map while advancement and elimination matches were best-of-three.
The top eight teams in Group Stage 1 advanced to Group Stage 2, where eight invited teams awaited: Team Falcons, FaZe Clan, 3DMAX, Virtus.pro, paiN Gaming, FURIA, MIBR and M80.
The same process applied in Group Stage 2, with the top eight squads moving on to Group Stage 3, where eight more invited teams joined the action: Team Vitality, MOUZ, Team Spirit, G2 Esports, The MongolZ, Aurora Gaming, Natus Vincere and Team Liquid.
The top eight teams in Group Stage 3 advance to the single-elimination playoffs, where all matches will be best-of-3, including the grand final on June 22.
The winning team will earn $500,000, and the runner-up will pocket $170,000.
On Saturday, FaZe Clan eked out a 13-11 win over The MongolZ on Ancient before cruising on 13-4 on Anubis. Ukraine’s Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev led FaZe Clan with 37 kills and a plus-19 kill-death differential. For the MongolZ, Azbayar ‘Senzu’ Munkhbold of the all-Mongolian squad posted 34 kills and a plus-7 K-D differential.
Team Vitality notched back-to-back 13-6 wins on Train and Dust II to dismiss Virtus.pro. France’s Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut paced Team Vitality with 38 kills and a plus-23 K-D differential. Kazakhstan’s Kaisar ‘ICY’ Faiznurov was one of three Virtus.pro players with 22 kills, though the entire team had a negative K-D differential.
Facing G2 Esports, Natus Vincere lost 13-10 on Mirage, but bounced back 13-9 on Anubis and closed it out with a 19-16 triple-overtime win on Inferno. Lithuania’s Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavicius led the way for the winners with 66 kills and a plus-12 K-D differential. For G2 Esports, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kovac notched 62 kills and a plus-16 K-D differential.
paiN Gaming took down 3DMAX 13-9 on Inferno and 16-12 on Nuke, led by Brazil’s João ‘snow’ Vinicius (36 kills, plus-4 K-D), Rodrigo ‘biguzera’ Bittencourt (35 kills, plus-4 K-D) and Lucas ‘nqz’ Soares (33 kills, plus-11 K-D). Bryan ‘Maka’ Canda of the all-French 3DMAX squad finished with 32 kills and an even K-D differential.
Lynn Vision Gaming opened with a 13-2 win on Dust II, but Legacy easily won the next two (13-3 on Inferno, 13-5 Nuke). Leading the way for the all-Brazilian Legacy squad was Eduardo ‘dumau’ Wolkmer, who notched 49 kills and a plus-20 K-D differential. For Lynn Vision Gaming, Sike ‘z4kr’ Zhang totaled 36 kills and a plus-3 differential for the all-Chinese team.
MOUZ sandwiched a 13-10 win on Train and a 13-6 victory on Mirage around a 13-11 loss on Inferno to Aurora Gaming. Israel’s Jimi ‘Jimpphat’ Salo and Hungary’s Adam ‘torzsi’ Torzsas both posted 47 kills and a plus-11 K-D differential. For the all-Turkish Aurora Gaming team, Ozgurz ‘woxic’ Eker collected 46 kills and a negative-2 K-D differential.
The Group Stage 3 schedule for Sunday:
Round 5 matches
–Legacy vs. MOUZ
–The MongolZ vs. G2 Esports
–Virtus.pro vs. paiN Gaming
BLAST.tv Austin Major Group Stage 3 standings
T1. Team Spirit, 3-0 (advanced to playoffs)
T1. FURIA, 3-0 (advanced to playoffs)
T3. Natus Vincere, 3-1 (advanced to playoffs)
T3. FaZe Clan, 3-1 (advanced to playoffs)
T3. Team Vitality, 3-1 (advanced to playoffs)
T6. Virtus.pro, 2-2
T6. Legacy, 2-2
T6. The MongolZ, 2-2
T6. G2 Esports, 2-2
T6. paiN Gaming, 2-2
T6. MOUZ, 2-2
T12. Aurora Gaming, 1-3 (eliminated)
T12. 3DMAX, 1-3 (eliminated)
T12. Lynn Vision Gaming, 1-3 (eliminated)
T15. Nemiga Gaming, 0-3 (eliminated)
T15. Team Liquid, 0-3 (eliminated)
BLAST.tv Austin Major prize pool
1. $500,000
2. $170,000
3-4. $80,000
5-8. $45,000
9-11. $15,000
12-14. $15,000 — Aurora Gaming, 3DMAX, Lynn Vision Gaming
15-16. $15,000 — Team Liquid, Nemiga Gaming
17-19. $10,000 — B8, MIBR, HEROIC
20-22. $10,000 — TYLOO, Team Falcons, M80
23-24. $10,000 — OG, BetBoom Team
25-27. $5,000 — FlyQuest, NRG, Wildcard
28-30. $5,000 — Imperial Esports, Chinggis Warriors, Complexity
31-32. $5,000 — Metizport, Fluxo
–Field Level Media
