Gaimin Gladiators advanced to the lower-bracket semifinals with a pair of wins on Friday at the Riyadh Masters.
Gaimin Gladiators beat Quest Esports 2-0 in Round 2 of the playoff’s lower bracket, then toppled Group B champions BetBoom Team 2-1 in the lower-bracket quarterfinal.
The other match of the day saw 9Pandas outlast Team Aster 2-1 in Round 2 of the lower bracket.
The $15 million Riyadh Masters began with 20 teams, and 12 were left standing after the play-in and group stages.
The group stage featured two groups of eight teams and concluded on Monday. Those matches were best-of-two in a single round-robin format. The top four teams advanced to the upper bracket of the playoffs, while the fifth- and sixth-place teams from each group advanced to the lower bracket. The remaining teams have been eliminated.
The double-elimination playoff stage runs through Sunday. All matches are best-of-three except for the grand final, which is best-of-five.
The winning team pockets $5 million with $2.5 million going to the runner-up.
On Friday, Gaimin Gladiators grinded out a sweep over Quest with a 51-minute win on green and a 61-minute win on red. Quinn “Quinn” Callahan averaged a kills-deaths-assists ratio of 15.0-4.0-10.0 to lead the Gladiators.
BetBoom was awaiting in the lower-bracket quarterfinals and opened that match with a 38-minute win on green. Gaimin Gladiators responded with a 39-minute win on green and a 40-minute win on red to complete a comeback. Quinn posted a 10-4-14 K-D-A on the decisive map.
Meanwhile, 9Pandas started their match with a 30-minute win on red. Team Aster drew level with a 35-minute win on green, but 9Pandas advanced by winning in 43 minutes on red. Matvey “MieRo'” Vasyunin of Russia piled up 37 assists over the three rounds.
Three matches are scheduled for Saturday:
–Team Liquid vs. Team Spirit (upper-bracket final)
–Talon Esports vs. 9Pandas (lower-bracket quarterfinals)
–Gaimin Gladiators vs. Talon/9Pandas winner (lower-bracket semifinals)
Riyadh Masters prize pool:
1. $5 million — TBD
2. $2.5 million — TBD
3. $1.7 million — TBD
4. $1.2 million — TBD
5-6. $800,000 — BetBoom Team, TBD
7-8. $500,000 — Quest Esports, Team Aster
9-12. $300,000 — PSG.LGD, Tundra Esports, Evil Geniuses, Team Secret
13-14. $200,000 — OG, TSM
15-16. $100,000 — Xtreme Gaming, Shopify Rebellion
17-20. $50,000 — beastcoast, Entity, Virtus.pro, Execration
–Field Level Media
