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
