ENCE and NRG Esports are the first teams to secure spots in the New Champions Stage after sweeping their best-of-three series in Round 3 action of the New Legends Stage in the StarLadder Berlin Major on Friday. DreamEaters and Ninjas in Pyjamas were the first teams to be eliminated from the stage.
The $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event includes 16 teams in the second phase, with the "Swiss System" format beginning with eight one-game matches determined by seeding from the first phase. After a second round of one-game matches, Round 3 moved to a best-of-three series for teams playing in "high" and "low" matches, with losers from the low matches facing elimination from the tournament.
In the two "high" matches on Friday, ENCE triumphed 2-0 over Team Vitality with a 16-10 win on Nuke and a 16-7 victory on Dust2. NRG Esports had a tougher time of it against top-seeded Astralis, but came away with a 2-0 win after a 31-28 overtime victory on Train followed by a 16-4 triumph on Nuke.
In Friday's low matches, DreamEaters suffered their third consecutive defeat in the New Legends Stage, falling to a confident Renegades squad 16-10 on Mirage and 16-8 on Train.
Meanwhile, North rebounded from Thursday's loss with a 2-0 sweep of NiP, winning 16-8 on Train and 16-4 on Dust2.
In the one-game "mid" matches, mousesports edged Natus Vincere 19-17 on Nuke, while AVANGAR survived an overtime battle to beat No. 2 seed Team Liquid 22-18 on Overpass. G2 Esports cruised past MiBR with a 16-4 win on Inferno, and CR4ZY beat Team FaZe Clan 16-9 on Mirage.
Round 4 high and low matches continue on Saturday with final advancement matches continuing with Round 5 on Sunday. Matches are best-of-three.
Saturday's Round 4 match lineup:
High matches:
--G2 vs. AVANGAR
--Vitality vs. mousesports
--Astralis vs. CR4ZY
Low matches:
--MiBR vs. Natus Vincere
--FaZe vs. Renegades
--Liquid vs. North
The top eight teams will move on to the New Champions Stage, set for Sept. 5-8, featuring the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, with all matches being best-of-three. The bottom eight teams will be eliminated.
The championship team will receive $500,000, and the runner-up will pocket $150,000.
--Field Level Media