Team Spirit won two matches on Friday and advanced to the upper-bracket final at the Fissure Universe: Episode 8 event.
Spirit swept StrongBoys 2-0 in the upper-bracket quarterfinals, then squeezed past Team Liquid 2-1.
Next up for Team Spirt is Aurora Gaming, who downed Team Yandex 2-0 in the other upper-bracket semifinal.
In lower-bracket opening-round action, BetBoom Team rallied past Power Rangers 2-1, and MOUZ bounced StrongBoys 2-0.
BetBoom Team will clash with Team Liquid in the lower-bracket second round on Saturday, and MOUZ will oppose Team Yandex.
The $250,000 Dota 2 event began with eight teams playing in a double-elimination bracket. All matches are best-of-three until the best-of-five final on Sunday.
The championship team will earn $125,000, while the runner-up will get $60,000.
On Friday, Spirit pushed past StrongBoys in 33 minutes on red and 35 minutes on green. Russia’s Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov led Team Spirit with a 17-11-27 kill-death-assist ratio. Hungary’s Tamas “lowskill” Kaszas finished at 12-10-7 for StrongBoys.
Spirit opened with a 40-minute win on green against Team Liquid, but Liquid equalized in 28 minutes on green. Spirit took the decisive third map in 44 minutes on red. Ukraine’s Illya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk finished at 34-7-19 for Team Spirit. Poland’s Michal “Nisha” Jankowski wound up with a 25-10-28 K-D-A ratio for Team Liquid.
The remaining schedule:
Saturday
–Upper-bracket final: Team Spirit vs. Aurora Gaming
–Lower-bracket quarterfinal: Team Yandex vs. MOUZ
–Lower-bracket quarterfinal: Team Liquid vs. BetBoom Team
–Lower-bracket semifinal: Team Yandex/MOUZ winner vs. Team Liquid/BetBoom Team winner
Sunday
–Lower-bracket final: Team Spirit/Aurora Gaming loser vs. lower-bracket semifinal winner
–Grand final: Team Spirit/Aurora Gaming winner vs. lower-bracket final winner
Fissure Universe: Episode 8 prize pool
1. $125,000
2. $60,000
3. $30,000
4. $15,000
5-6. $10,000
7-8. No money — StrongBoys, Power Rangers
–Field Level Media
