Xtreme Gaming, Aurora Gaming, Team Yandex and LGD Gaming got through to the upper-bracket semifinals as playoff action began at PGL Wallachia Season 9 on Thursday in Bucharest, Romania.
Xtreme blanked Team Nemesis 2-0, Aurora shut out GamerLegion 2-0 and Yandex beat 1w Team by the same score. LGD was the only winner pushed to a third map before they handled Natus Vincere 2-1.
The losing sides moved into the lower bracket at the $1 million Dota 2 tournament, which began with 16 teams playing in a modified Swiss system format.
All matches in the double-elimination playoff bracket are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final on Sunday. The winning team will take home $300,000.
On Thursday, Xtreme defeated Nemesis in 39 minutes on red and 40 minutes on green. Wang “Ame” Chunyu of China led Xtreme with 16 kills, five deaths and 18 assists.
Aurora prevailed in 39 minutes on green and 52 minutes on red against GamerLegion. Slovakia’s Oliver “skiter” Lepko posted a 18-4-25 kills-deaths-assists ratio for Aurora.
Yandex topped 1w in 48 minutes on red and 26 minutes on green. Russia’s Ilya “CHIRA_JUNIOR” Chirtsov posted a 22-3-37 K-D-A to pace Yandex.
LGD won their opening map in 34 minutes on green, but Natus Vincere countered with a 32-minute win on red. LGD pulled out the final map in 55 minutes on green. Pakistani-American Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan had a 21-17-31 K-D-A for LGD.
The tournament continues Friday with four matches:
–Xtreme Gaming vs. LGD Gaming (upper-bracket semifinals)
–Aurora Gaming vs. Team Yandex (upper-bracket semifinals)
–Team Nemesis vs. Natus Vincere (lower-bracket Round 1)
–GamerLegion vs. 1w Team (lower-bracket Round 1)
PGL Wallachia Season 9 prize pool:
1. $300,000
2. $175,000
3. $120,000
4. $80,000
5-6. $60,000
7-8. $40,000
9-11. $20,000 — Pipsqueak+4, Conventus Stellarum, MOUZ
12-14. $15,000 — Team Cobra, Hokori, Yakult Brothers
15-16. $10,000 — PlayTime, Pibbles Corp
–Field Level Media
