(Photo credit: Shawn Dowd/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK)
TYLOO, BIG and FlyQuest earned elimination victories on Friday to advance to Stage 2 at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major in Germany.
TYLOO knocked off Lynn Vision Gaming by a 13-5, 13-7 count to secure its spot in Stage 2, which features 16 teams battling June 6-9 for the eight spots available in Stage 3.
China's Su 'Zero' Jingshen and Yi 'JamYoung' Yang stacked up 37 kills apiece to pace TYLOO, which finished 3-2 during Stage 1 play. Lizhi 'Starry' Ye of China enjoyed the best day for Lynn Vision Gaming with 30 kills versus 24 deaths, but that could not keep the club from being eliminated.
BIG wrapped up seventh place in Stage 1 by outlasting NRG 13-5, 12-16, 16-12. Germany native Jon 'JDC' de Castro led the way for BIG with a 57-45 K-D ratio. Germany's Josef 'faveN' Baumann chipped in a match-high 26 kills for BIG in the pivotal Game 3 on Mirage, while NRG called it a tournament. Michael 'Grim' Wince paced NRG with 46 kills to 53 deaths.
FlyQuest breezed past Team Liquid 13-2, 13-7 in Friday's other match to wrap up eighth place in Stage 1. Australia's Joshua 'INS' Potter paced a star-studded day for FlyQuest with a 35-14 ratio. For Team Liquid, which was eliminated, Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski amassed 26 kills to 31 deaths.
Stage 2 play begins Saturday with the 16-team Swiss System format. After Saturday morning's Round 1 matches, the teams will be split into High and Low groups for Saturday afternoon's Round 2 matches.
B8 and BetBoom Team were the only squads to zip through Stage 1 with a 3-0 record. GamerLegion, M80 and MIBR finished third through fifth, respectively, by going 3-1 in Stage 1 play.
FUT Esports, Team Spirit, Astralis, G2 Esports, Legacy, paiN Gaming, Monte and 9z Team received invites to jump into the tournament at Stage 2.
The Stage 2 seeds were determined by the Buchholz system as well as the teams' initial seeds. Saturday's Round 1 pairings are:
--Astralis vs. GamerLegion
--9z Team vs. FlyQuest
--FUT Esports vs. B8
--paiN Gaming vs. TYLOO
--G2 Esports vs. M80
--Monte vs. BIG
--Team Spirit vs. BetBoom Team
--Legacy vs. MIBR
The top eight finishers in Stage 2 advance to Stage 3, where they will be joined by Team Vitality, Natus Vincere, Team Falcons, The MongolZ, PARIVISION, Aurora Gaming, FURIA and MOUZ.
Teams are competing for their share of $1.25 million with the grand final scheduled for June 21 -- and the champion receives $500,000.
Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 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 -- Lynn Vision Gaming, NRG, Team Liquid
28-30. $5,000 -- THUNDERdOWNUNDER, Sharks Esports, HEROIC
31-32. $5,000 -- Gaimin Gladiators, SINNERS Esports
--Field Level Media
