A day after surrendering three total points in their opening match, Team Falcons on Sunday showed they are one of the teams to beat as play continued at the $500,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive FISSURE Playground No. 2 event in Belgrade, Serbia.
Saturday’s 13-1, 13-2 win over Virtus.pro made Falcons one of eight teams to advance to Sunday’s Round 2 high matches. With Sunday’s 2-0 win over Legacy (13-4 on Inferno and 19-16 in overtime on Ancient), Falcons now sit one win away from advancing to playoffs beginning next Friday.
The 16 teams are competing in an opening-round Swiss Stage — essentially a triple-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches. The top eight teams will advance to the single-elimination playoffs, which begin on 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.
Sunday featured four matches between teams that won their first match (high matches) and four matches between teams that lost their opener (low matches). The four high-match winners were FaZe Clan (2-1 over 3DMAX), Aurora Gaming (2-0 over TYLOO), FURIA (2-0 over G2 Esports) and Falcons.
On Monday, FaZe will play Falcons and Aurora faces FURIA. The two winners will advance to the playoffs. The losers will move on to Round 4 on Tuesday.
FaZe needed a reverse sweep to top 3DMAX, losing 13-10 on Nuke before winning 13-3 on Ancient and 13-6 on Dust II. Falcons began a run of sweeps with their win as Aurora followed with a 13-10 win on Inferno and 13-11 win on Mirage in downing TYLOO. FURIA took care of G2 13-7 on Inferno and 16-14 in overtime on Overpass.
In the low matches Sunday, The MongolZ swept Lynn Vision Gaming 13-11 on Dust II and 13-6 on Ancient in the first match. Astralis then downed Virtus.pro 13-7 on Ancient and 13-11 on Train. GamerLegion dropped Team Liquid 13-1 on Dust II and 13-6 on Inferno. The final low match was the closest, with paiN Gaming losing 13-11 on Dust II before winning 13-10 on Mirage and 22-20 in triple overtime on Nuke to beat HEROIC.
Monday’s third round will feature high matches (between 2-0 teams), mid matches (1-1 teams) and low matches (0-2 teams).
High-match winners advance to the playoffs. Low-match losers are eliminated. High-match losers, low-match winners and all mid-match participants will play in Round 4 on Tuesday.
Monday’s Round 3 Matches
High Matches
–FaZe Clan vs. Team Falcons
–Aurora Gaming vs. FURIA
Mid Matches
–TYLOO vs. The MongolZ
–Astralis vs. paiN Gaming
–3DMAX vs. GamerLegion
–G2 Esports vs. Legacy
Low Matches
–Team Liquid vs. HEROIC
–Virtus.pro vs. Lynn Vision Gaming
FISSURE Playground No. 2, Swiss Stage standings
1. Team Falcons, 2-0 (plus-35 round differential)
2. FaZe Clan, 2-0 (plus-21)
3. FURIA, 2-0 (plus-12)
4. Aurora Gaming, 2-0 (plus-6)
5. TYLOO, 1-1 (plus-14)
6. The MongolZ, 1-1 (plus-10)
7. Astralis, 1-1 (plus-7)
T8. G2 Esports, 1-1 (even)
T8. GamerLegion, 1-1 (even)
10. paiN Gaming, 1-1 (minus-4)
11. Legacy, 1-1 (minus-5)
12. 3DMAX, 1-1 (minus-15)
13. HEROIC, 0-2 (minus-10)
14. Lynn Vision Gaming, 0-2 (minus-17)
15. Team Liquid, 0-2 (minus-23)
16. Virtus.pro, 0-2 (minus-31)
–Field Level Media
