Call Of Duty Esports Tournament
Natus Vincere, Astralis, SAW and The MongolZ all cruised to 2-0 sweeps in Group A on Saturday during the group stage of the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne in Germany.
All four teams advanced to the upper-bracket semifinals thanks to their victories. Natus Vincere blanked paiN Gaming, Astralis downed 9z Team, SAW tackled G2 Esports and The MongolZ got the best of Team Spirit.
Sixteen teams started in the double-elimination play-in stage of the $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament.
The group stage, which began on Saturday and runs through Tuesday, will feature two double-elimination groups of eight. The group winners move directly to the playoff semifinals. The group runners-up advance to the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds, and the groupsโ third-place teams go to the playoff quarterfinals as low seeds.
The single-elimination playoffs begin on Friday and end on Aug. 18. All tournament matches are best-of-three with the exception of the grand final, which will be best-of-five. The champion earns berths in the IEM Katowice event and the BLAST Premier World Final while also pocketing $400,000.
On Saturday, Natus Vincere prevailed 13-4 on both Anubis and Mirage. Ukraineโs Valeriy โb1tโ Vakhovskiy racked up a match-high 29 kills and finished with a plus-nine kill-death differential.
Victor โStaehrโ Staehr of Denmark parlayed 35 kills with a plus-nine K-D as Astralis took Dust II 13-10 and Inferno 13-5.
SAW won on Nuke (13-5) and Inferno (13-10) behind 33 kills and a plus-12 K-D ratio from Portugalโs Michel โewjerkzโ Pinto.
Mongolian Ayush โmzinhoโ Batbold piled up 41 kills against 26 deaths, leading The MongolZ to a 16-13 victory on Ancient that set the tone for a 13-4 blowout on Anubis.
Four Group B teams were in action on Saturday, with Complexity Gaming edging Virtus.pro 2-1 and FaZe Clan shutting out Team Liquid 2-0.
Complexity Gaming opened their match against VP with a 13-6 win on Vertigo before falling 16-14 on Dust II. They then stayed in the upper bracket with a 13-5 rout on Anubis.
FaZe Clan pulled off victories on Mirage (13-11) and Nuke (13-10).
Group-stage action continues Sunday with six matches:
โNatus Vincere vs. Astralis (Group A upper-bracket semifinal)
โSAW vs. The MongolZ (Group A upper-bracket semifinal)
โpaiN Gaming vs. 9z Team (Group A lower-bracket quarterfinal)
โG2 Esports vs. Team Spirit (Group A lower-bracket quarterfinal)
โMOUZ vs. Team Falcons (Group B upper-bracket quarterfinal)
โFURIA Esports vs. Team Vitality (Group B upper-bracket quarterfinal)
Intel Extreme Masters Cologne prize pool, with money and BLAST Premier points
1. $400,000, 3,000 points
2. $180,000, 2,000 points
3-4. $80,000, 1,200 points
5-6. $40,000, 500 points
7-8. $24,000, 300 points
9-12. $16,000, no points
13-16. $10,000, no points
17-20. $4,500, no points โ BIG, HEROIC, MIBR, Eternal Fire
21-24. $2,500, no points โ ALTERNATE aTTaX, 3DMAX, Imperial Esports, FlyQuest
โField Level Media