(Photo credit: Nick Oza/The Republic via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
Team Falcons and Aurora Gaming were the first two teams to punch their tickets to the playoffs at the $500,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive FISSURE Playground No. 2 event on the strength of 2-0 sweeps during Monday's action in Belgrade, Serbia.
Falcons defeated FaZe Clan, and Aurora swept FURIA in the two Round 3 High matches to go 3-0 in the opening stage. They're exempt from Rounds 4 and 5. Meanwhile, the losers of the two Round 3 Low matches -- Lynn Vision Gaming and HEROIC -- were the first two eliminated from the competition.
The 16 teams are competing in an opening-round Swiss Stage -- essentially a triple-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches. From the third round on, high-match winners advance to the playoffs and low-match losers are eliminated.
The top eight teams will advance to the single-elimination playoffs, which begin Friday. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be best-of-three, while the grand final on Sept. 21 will be best-of-five.
The championship side will make $200,000, while the runner-up will receive $100,000.
On Monday, Team Falcons edged FaZe 13-11 on Nuke and 13-6 on Dust II. Nikola 'NiKo' Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina starred for Falcons, scoring 36 kills on a plus-14 kills-to-deaths differential.
Aurora prevailed over FURIA 13-5 on Inferno and 13-11 on Dust II. Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dortkardes of Turkey paced all players with 45 kills and a plus-21 K-D for Aurora.
In the Low matches, Virtus.pro topped Lynn Vision Gaming 19-17 on Dust II and 13-10 on Train. Russia's Evgenii 'FL1T' Lebedev led Virtus.pro with 49 kills and a plus-12 differential.
Team Liquid eliminated HEROIC with a 2-1 victory. Liquid won 13-8 on Ancient, suffered a 13-8 setback on Dust II and rounded it out with a 13-10 victory on Mirage. Israel's Guy 'NertZ' Iluz had 57 kills and a plus-16 K-D to pace Liquid.
There were also four Round 3 Mid matches, the winners of which moved on to the Round 4 High matches while the losers dropped into the Low matches.
The MongolZ rallied past TYLOO 2-1; GamerLegion did the same against 3DMAX; G2 Esports crushed Legacy in a 2-0 sweep; and paiN Gaming beat Astralis 2-0, the latter map requiring overtime.
Tuesday's Round 4 Matches:
High Matches
--G2 Esports vs. GamerLegion
--FaZe Clan vs. The MongolZ
--FURIA vs. paiN Gaming
Low Matches
--3DMAX vs. Virtus.pro
--TYLOO vs. Team Liquid
--Astralis vs. Legacy
FISSURE Playground No. 2, Swiss Stage standings
1. Team Falcons, 3-0 (minus-1 Buchholz score)
2. Aurora Gaming, 3-0 (minus-1)
3. FaZe Clan, 2-1 (plus-3)
4. FURIA, 2-1 (plus-3)
5. G2 Esports, 2-1 (minus-3)
6. GamerLegion, 2-1 (minus-3)
7. paiN Gaming, 2-1 (minus-3)
8. The MongolZ, 2-1 (minus-5)
9. TYLOO, 1-2 (plus-5)
10. 3DMAX, 1-2 (plus-3)
11. Astralis, 1-2 (plus-3)
12. Legacy, 1-2 (plus-1)13. Virtus.pro, 1-2 (minus-1)
14. Team Liquid, 1-2 (minus-1)
15. Lynn Vision Gaming, 0-3 (plus-1)
16. HEROIC, 0-3 (minus-1)
--Field Level Media
