BetBoom Team advanced to the upper-bracket final while Aurora Gaming and LGD Gaming stayed alive in the lower bracket Friday at the BLAST Slam VII playoffs in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The dud of the day was Team Falcons, who were swept by BetBoom 2-0 in the upper-bracket semifinals, then lost 2-1 to Aurora Gaming in the first lower-bracket match. LGD blanked Team Liquid 2-0 in the other lower-bracket quarterfinal.
BetBoom moved on to face Team Yandex in the upper-bracket final. The winner there will reach the grand final Sunday for a chance at the $300,000 top prize. The losing side will get one more opportunity through the lower bracket.
The $1 million event began with a 12-team group stage last month. Group play was a round-robin, best-of-one format. The top two teams advanced to the upper-bracket semifinals of the playoffs, while the third- and fourth-place teams started in the upper-bracket quarters.
The fifth- and sixth-place teams proceeded to Round 2 of the last-chance qualifier, while teams 7-10 in the standings began in Round 1 of that stage. The bottom two teams were eliminated.
On Friday, BetBoom defeated Falcons in 49 minutes and 46 minutes, playing both maps on red. Danil “gpk” Skutin of Russia continued to carry BetBoom by averaging a kills-deaths-assists ratio of 11.0-2.0-13.5.
Team Falcons tried to brush that off and won their first map against Aurora in 49 minutes on red. But Aurora responded with a 32-minute victory on red and a 33-minute triumph on green to complete the comeback. Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko of Russia averaged a 13.3-2.0-14.3 K-D-A to pace Aurora.
LGD skated to a pair of wins on red, beating Liquid in 30 minutes and 38 minutes. Peru’s Santiago “TaiLung” Aguero Gustavo led LGD with a 7.5-1.0-14.0 average K-D-A.
The tournament continues with two matches on Saturday:
–Team Yandex vs. BetBoom Team (upper-bracket final)
–Aurora Gaming vs. LGD Gaming (lower-bracket semifinal)
BLAST Slam VII payouts (prize money, team earnings)
1. $300,000, $100,000
2. $150,000, $45,000
3. $70,000, $23,000
4. $50,000, $17,000
5-6. $40,000, $15,000 — Team Falcons, Team Liquid
7-8. $25,000, $10,000 — Team Spirit, PARIVISION
9-10. $15,000, $5,000 — OG, Tundra Esports
11-12. $10,000, $2,500 — Xtreme Gaming, GLYPH
–Field Level Media
