Team Secret and Thunder Awaken opened the playoffs with sweeps Thursday at The International 2022 in Singapore.

Thunder Awaken stunned Evil Geniuses, winners of Group A, in 47 minutes and 30 minutes, both on green, to advance to Round 2 of the upper bracket. Team Secret, a last-chance qualifier, rolled in 23 minutes (red) and 50 minutes (green) over PSG.LGD to also advance.

Herrera “Darkmago” Gonzalo led all-Peruvian Thunder Awaken with a kills-deaths-assists differential of 10.5/1.0/20.0.

Dutchman Remco “Crystallis” Arets led Team Secret with a K-D-A of 12.5/2.0/16.5.

Thunder Awaken and Secret will square off on Saturday.

Evil Geniuses and PSG.LGD drop down to Round 2 of the lower bracket. EG will play beastcoast, a winner over Hokori in 36 minutes on green in Round 1 of the lower bracket playoffs. All lower bracket matches were best-of-one.

PSG.LGD will face BOOM Esports, a winner in 40 minutes over Team Spirit on Thursday.

Also advancing in the lower bracket were Gaimin Gladiators and Entity. Gaimin Gladiators defeated Fnatic in 51 minutes on red while Entity eliminated Royal Never Give Up in 107 minutes on red.

The playoffs run through Oct. 30. The current prize pool is up to $17 million.

The main event continues Friday with six matches:
Tundra Esports vs. OG (upper bracket)
Team Liquid vs. Team Aster (upper bracket)
Evil Geniuses vs. beastcoast (lower bracket)
PSG.LGD vs. BOOM Esports (lower bracket0
Gaimin Gladiators vs. Tundra/OG loser (lower bracket)
Entity vs. Aster/Liquid loser (lower bracket)

The International 2022 prize pool:
No. 1 — 45 percent of total: TBD
No. 2 — 13 percent: TBD
No. 3 — 9 percent: TBD
No. 4 — 6 percent: TBD
5th-6th — 3.5 percent: TBD
7th-8th — 2.5 percent: TBD
9th-12th — 2 percent: TBD
13th-16th –1.5 percent: Hokori, Team Spirit, Fnatic, Royal Never Give Up
17th-18th — .25 percent: Soniqs, Talon Esports
19th-20th — .25 percent: BetBoom Team, TSM

–Field Level Media