Action got underway Wednesday with 16 teams competing in the $400,000 CS Asia Championships in Shanghai.

The Counter-Strike 2 event begins with two double-elimination groups, with the top three teams from each group advancing to the playoffs: group stage winners to the semifinals, runners-up to the quarterfinals as the high seeds, and the third-place teams to the quarterfinals as low seeds.

The single-elimination playoff bracket begins Friday, with all playoff matches best-of-three until Sunday’s best-of-five grand final. The winning team will take home $150,000.

Group play began with best-of-one opening matches followed by the best-of-three upper-bracket semifinals.

Team Falcons and Legacy advanced to the upper-bracket final in Group A. Falcons defeated BC.Game Esports 13-11 before sweeping M80, winning 19-15 on Inferno and 13-11 on Ancient. Legacy beat NRG 13-10 and then swept TYLOO with a 19-16 win on Overpass and a 16-12 victory on Ancient.

B8 and MIBR reached the upper-bracket final in Group B. B8 posted a 13-9 win against Ninjas in Pyjamas and a 2-1 win against The MongolZ, sandwiching a 13-11 win on Ancient and a 13-9 win on Mirage around a 13-11 setback on Nuke. MIBR beat 3DMAX 13-9 and then swept PARIVISION, winning 13-6 on Mirage and 13-4 on Ancient.

Thursday schedule:
Group A:
–BC.Game Esports vs. paiN Gaming (lower-bracket quarterfinal)
–MOUZ vs. NRG (lower-bracket quarterfinal)
–TYLOO vs. BC.Game Esports-pain Gaming winner (lower-bracket semifinal)
–M80 vs. MOUZ-NRG winner (lower-bracket semifinal)
Group B:
–Lynn Vision Gaming vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas (lower-bracket quarterfinal)
–3DMAX vs. Team Liquid (lower-bracket quarterfinal)
–PARIVISION vs. LVG-NIP winner (lower-bracket semifinal)
–The MongolZ vs. 3DMAX-Liquid winner (lower-bracket semifinal)

CS Asia Championship prize pool:
1. $150,000
2. $70,000
3. $60,000
4. $40,000
5-6. $20,000
7-8. $10,000
9-12. $4,000
13-16. $1,000

–Field Level Media