Field Level Media
24 May 2020, 04:10 GMT+10
Team Liquid swept MIBR 2-0 on Saturday to get their first win and clinch a playoff spot in the DreamHack Masters Spring - North America event.
The result left both teams at 1-2 in the bottom of Group A, with Liquid holding the tiebreaker to ensure at least a third-place finish. FURIA Esports leads the group at 2-0, and Chaos Esports Club is in second at 1-1, with those teams set to play Sunday in the Group A finale.
The DreamHack Masters Jonkoping, a $250,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event, originally was scheduled to be contested with 16 teams June 9-14 in Jonkoping, Sweden. However, the coronavirus pandemic forced the event to move to an online format featuring regional competitions for Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania.
The DreamHack Masters Spring - North America, which kicked off Tuesday, includes eight teams vying for a $100,000 prize pool. The sides are divided into two four-team groups for round-robin play consisting of best-of-three matches.
Both group winners will advance to the upper bracket of the double-elimination playoffs, and the second- and third-place teams from each group will enter the lower bracket of the playoffs. All playoff matches will be best-of-three except for the best-of-five final on June 14.
The DreamHack Masters Spring - Europe bracket, with 16 teams competing for $160,000, started Tuesday and runs through June 14. The four-team tournaments for both Asia and Oceania, each with a $20,000 prize pool, are scheduled for June 2-7.
Saturday began with a surge from MIBR, who appeared to be in full control with a lead of 9-3 on the opening map, Overpass. But Liquid won the next 11 rounds to lead 14-9, then closed it out for a 16-11 victory.
On the second map, Inferno, MIBR again started strong, taking a 6-1 edge. But Liquid battled back again, taking 10 of the next 11 rounds for a 11-7 lead and again finishing with a 16-11 victory.
Rifler Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken finished with a game-best plus-15 kill-death differential in the match. Three of Liquid's other four players finished plus-6 or better.
Liquid will advance to the lower bracket of the playoffs, with two other Group A spots yet to be claimed, as MIBR have not yet been eliminated.
Entering Sunday's Group A finale, FURIA have clinched a playoff berth, but the top spot in the group -- and a berth in the upper-bracket final -- remains up for grabs. Chaos could claim that spot or slide all the way out of the playoffs, depending on the results.
Group B play begins Monday with Evil Geniuses facing Cloud9 and runs through May 30. The playoffs start June 11.
DreamHack Masters Spring - North America standings, with win-loss record and point differential:
Group A
1. FURIA Esports, 2-0, plus-6
2. Chaos Esports Club, 1-1, minus-14
3. Team Liquid, 1-2, plus-17
4. MIBR, 1-2, minus-9
Group B
T1. 100 Thieves, 0-0, even
T1. Cloud9, 0-0, even
T1. Evil Geniuses, 0-0, even
T1. Gen.G Esports, 0-0, even
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