Wildcard needed three overtimes to beat Lynn Vision Gaming 19-17 and finish a two-win day as the BLAST.tv Austin Major got underway on Tuesday in Texas.
B8, HEROIC and FlyQuest also earned two victories on Tuesday, leaving each of them one more win away from advancing out of Group Stage 1.
The $1.25 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event features three Swiss-system group stages and a total of 32 teams.
Sixteen teams advanced through qualifying events to reach Group Stage 1, where all early-round matches are a single map while advancement and elimination matches are best-of-three.
The top eight teams in Group Stage 1 advance to Group Stage 2, where eight invited teams await: Team Falcons, FaZe Clan, 3DMAx, Virtus.pro, paiN Gaming, FURIA, MIBR and M80.
The same process applies in Group Stage 2, with the top eight squads moving on to Group Stage 3, where eight more invited teams will join the action: Team Vitality, MOUZ, Team Spirit, G2 Esports, The MongolZ, Aurora Gaming, Natus Vincere and Team Liquid.
The top eight teams in Group Stage 3 advance to the single-elimination playoffs, where all matches will be best-of-3, including the grand final on June 22.
The winning team will earn $500,000, and the runner-up will pocket $170,000.
In the second round on Tuesday, Wildcard pulled out the triple-OT win against Lynn Vision Gaming behind 31 kills and a plus-5 kill-death differential from the United States’ Josh “JBa” Barutt. Sike “z4kr” Zhang logged 32 kills and a plus-10 K-D differential for all-Chinese Lynn Vision.
Elsewhere in action between teams that won their openers, B8 topped OG 13-9 on Inferno. Artem “kensizor” Kapran paced all-Ukrainian B8 with 17 kills and a plus-3 K-D differential. Sweden’s Olle “spooke” Grundstrom amassed 19 kills and a plus-5 K-D differential for OG.
HEROIC handled NRG 13-5 on Dust II thanks to 22 kills and a plus-12 K-D differential from Turkey’s Yasin “xfl0ud” Koc. Denmark’s Alexander “br0” Bro and the United States’ Josh “oSee” Ohm each had 13 kills for NRG.
FlyQuest thrashed BetBoom Team 13-6 on Mirage. New Zealand’s Corey “nettik” Browne starred for FlyQuest with 20 kills and a plus-9 K-D differential. Pavel “S1ren” Ogloblin led all-Russian BetBoom Team with 13 kills and a plus-2 K-D differential.
In second-round matchups of teams that dropped their openers, Complexity got past Fluxo 13-9 on Inferno, Legacy edged Chinggis Warriors 13-10 on Nuke, Nemiga Gaming logged a 13-9 win over Imperial Esports on Train, and TYLOO blitzed Metizport 13-4 on Mirage.
In the opening round, OG routed Complexity 13-3 on Ancient, HEROIC dumped Chinggis Warriors 13-7 on Anubis, B8 nipped Imperial Esports 13-11 on Inferno, BetBoom Team bested Nemiga Gaming 13-7 on Train, NRG throttled TYLOO 13-5 on Anubis, Lynn Vision Gaming toppled Legacy 13-7 on Dust II, Wildcard demolished Metizport 13-1 on Inferno, and FlyQuest flew past Fluxo 13-7 on Ancient.
The Wednesday schedule:
High matches
–B8 vs. Wildcard
–HEROIC vs. FlyQuest
Mid matches
–BetBoom Team vs. Legacy
–NRG vs. Complexity
–OG vs. TYLOO
–Lynn Vision Gaming vs. Nemiga Gaming
Low matches
–Chinggis Warriors vs. Fluxo
–Imperial Esports vs. Metizport
BLAST.tv Austin Major Group Stage 1 standings
T1. Heroic, 2-0
T1. B8, 2-0
T1. Wildcard, 2-0
T1. FlyQuest, 2-0
T5. BetBoom Team, 1-1
T5. Lynn Vision Gaming, 1-1
T5. OG, 1-1
T5. NRG, 1-1
T5. Complexity, 1-1
T5. TYLOO, 1-1
T5. Nemiga Gaming, 1-1
T5. Legacy, 1-1
T13. Chinggis Warriors, 0-2
T13. Fluxo, 0-2
T13. Imperial Esports, 0-2
T13. Metizport, 0-2
BLAST.tv Austin Major prize pool
1. $500,000
2. $170,000
3-4. $80,000
5-8. $45,000
9-11. $15,000
12-14. $15,000
15-16. $15,000
17-19. $10,000
20-22. $10,000
23-24. $10,000
25-27. $5,000
28-30. $5,000
31-31. $5,000
–Field Level Media
