(Photo credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images)
NRG pulled out a 2-1 win over Astralis in the last upper-bracket second-round match on Friday at the Intel Extreme Masters Krakow's play-in round in Poland.
The result sent NRG to the group stage, where they will be joined by Astralis, who dumped GamerLegion in a lower-bracket second-round match later in the day. GamerLegion had knocked out HEROIC 2-0 in a lower-bracket first-round contest.
Rounding out the lower-bracket second round, BC.Game Esports swept Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0, FUT Esports trounced Team Liquid 2-0, and Aurora Gaming ousted paiN Gaming 2-0.
The $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began with 24 teams -- 16 competing in a double-elimination play-in bracket with eight already seeded straight into the group stage.
Play-in matches were best-of-three, with eight teams advancing.
The second stage features two groups of eight in double-elimination play involving best-of-three matches. The group winners earn spots in the playoff semifinals, the group runners-up head to the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams go to the playoff quarterfinals as low seeds.
The playoffs will consist of a single-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches until the grand final on Feb. 8, which will be best-of-five.
The championship team will receive $400,000, and the runner-up will get $180,000.
On Friday, NRG opened with a 16-14 overtime win on Mirage, but Astralis pulled level by taking Overpass 13-5. NRG captured the decisive third map, Inferno, 13-7.
The United States' Josh 'oSee' Ohm logged 56 kills and a plus-11 kill-death differential for NRG. Denmark's Jakob 'jabbi' Nygaard and Sweden's Love 'phzy' Smidebrant each posted 55 kills for Astralis.
GamerLegion got past HEROIC 13-7 on Overpass, 13-8 on Mirage behind 35 kills and a plus-6 K-D differential from Sweden's Linus 'nilo' Bergman. Another Swede, Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner, registered 37 kills and a plus-13 K-D differential for HEROIC.
Astralis routed GamerLegion 13-5 on Inferno, 13-2 on Overpass thanks to 36 kills and a plus-24 K-D differential from phzy. Poland's Milan 'hypex' Polowiec put up 27 kills and a plus-4 K-D differential for GamerLegion.
BC.Game Esports took down Ninjas in Pyjamas 13-7 on Dust II, 13-9 on Nuke. Ukraine's Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev recorded 41 kills and a plus-13 K-D differential for BC.Game Esports. Poland's Kacper 'xKacpersky' Gabara and Ukraine's Artem 'r1nkle' Moroz each had 31 kills for Ninjas in Pyjamas.
FUT Esports eliminated Team Liquid 13-4 on Ancient, 13-9 on Nuke. Ukraine's Nikita 'cmtry' Samolotov paced FUT Esports with 34 kills and a plus-15 K-D differential. Israel's Guy 'NertZ' Iluz finished with 28 kills and a minus-3 K-D differential for Team Liquid.
Aurora Gaming eased past paiN Gaming 13-7 on Mirage, 13-6 on Overpass. Engin 'MAJ3R' Kupeli and Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dortkardes each totaled 34 kills for all-Turkish Aurora Gaming. Guilherme 'piriajr' Barbosa amassed 26 kills and a minus-5 K-D differential for all-Brazilian paiN Gaming.
The first-round group-play schedule:
Saturday
Group A -- FURIA vs. FUT Esports
Group A -- G2 Esports vs. The MongolZ
Group A -- Natus Vincere vs. PARIVISION
Group A -- Astralis vs. Team Spirit
Group B -- Team Vitality vs. BC.Game Esports
Group B -- 3DMAX vs. FaZe Clan
Sunday
Group B -- MOUZ vs. NRG
Group B -- Aurora Gaming vs. Team Falcons
Intel Extreme Masters Krakow prize pool
1. $400,000
2. $180,000
3. $100,000
4. $60,000
5-6. $40,000
7-8. $24,000
9-12. $16,000
13-16. $10,000
17-20. $4,500 -- GamerLegion, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid, paiN Gaming
21-24. $2,500 -- Passion UA, Legacy, B8, HEROIC
--Field Level Media
