Al Qadsiah and T1 breezed through quarterfinal play on Saturday to advance to semifinal action at the Overwatch Champions Series’ Midseason Championship in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Al Qadsiah swept Virtus.pro 3-0 while T1 knocked out Team Liquid by the same 3-0 verdict. They are joined in the semifinals by Twisted Minds and Team Falcons, both of which were pushed to the limit in the best-of-five quarterfinals.
Al Qadsiah opened its sweep with a 2-0 win on Lijiang Tower Control. QAD then took care of business 3-2 on Watchpoint: Gilbraltar Escort and 3-1 on New Junk City Flashpoint to dispatch Virtus.pro.
QAD’s semifinal foe will be Twisted Minds, which had to rally from two deficits in order to move on. Crazy Raccoon topped Twisted Minds 2-1 on Lijiang Tower Control before Twisted Minds answered with a 3-0 win on Circuit Royal Escort. Crazy Raccoon regained the lead with a 3-1 triumph on Aatlis Flashpoint, but TM responded with a 139.62 meter to 27.92 meter win on Colosseo Push before claiming a climactic 3-2 win on Blizzard World Hybrid.
In the other half of the bracket, T1 kicked off its sweep against Team Liquid with a 2-0 win on Busan Control. T1 claimed a 3-2 victory on Shambali Monastery Escort before closing things out with a 119.44-77.87 meter win on Colosseo Push.
T1 will face Team Falcons in the semifinals. Just like Twisted Minds, Team Falcons needed to rally from a pair of deficits in order to advance in this $1 million tournament that’s part of the Esports World Cup.
Geekay Esports opened the proceedings with a 2-1 win on Lijiang Tower. After Team Falcons posted a 3-0 win on New Junk City, GK notched a 3-1 victory on Circuit Royal. Falcons pulled off a 82.56-52.87 meter win on Colosseo and a 2-1 win on Blizzard World to take the match.
The single-elimination playoffs will feature best-of-five semifinals on Sunday immediately prior to the best-of-five third-place match and the best-of-seven grand final.
The champions will collect $400,000 plus 1,000 Esports World Cup club points. The runner-up takes home $180,000 and 750 EWC club points.
The tournament continues Sunday with the two semifinal matches:
–Twisted Minds vs. Al Qadsiah
–T1 vs. Team Falcons
Overwatch Champions Series’ Midseason Championship prize pool, with money winnings and Esports World Cup club points
1. $400,000, 1,000 points
2. $180,000, 750 points
3. $100,000, 500 points
4. $60,000, 300 points
5-8. $35,000, 200 points — Crazy Raccoon, Virtus.pro, Team Liquid, Geekay Esports
9-12. $20,000, no points — Weibo Gaming, VARREL, Team CC, Sign Esports
13-16. $10,000, no points — AG.AL, ROC Esports, ZoKorp Esports, The Gatos Guapos
–Field Level Media
