
Jordan Woodruff
MOUZ and Team Vitality won their semifinal matches on Friday at the Intel Extreme Masters Dallas event and will meet in Sunday’s grand final.
MOUZ swept The Mongolz 2-0, while Team Vitality took down Team Falcons 2-1.
The $300,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with 16 teams divided into two double-elimination groups. The group winners clinched playoff semifinal berths.
The group runners-up entered the quarterfinals as high seeds, and the two third-place teams moved into the quarterfinals as low seeds. The other five teams in each group were eliminated.
All matches in the group stage and the playoffs are best-of-three except for the grand final on Sunday, which will be best-of-five.
The winning team will earn $125,000, and the runner-up will make $50,000.
On Saturday, MOUZ posted back-to-back 13-11 wins on Inferno and Nuke to make quick work of The MongolZ. Adam ‘torzsi’ Torzsas of Hungary paced MOUZ with 40 kills and a plus-15 kills-to-deaths differential. For The MongolZ, Usukhbayar ‘910’ Banzragch of Mongolia led the way with 39 kills and a plus-10 K-D ratio.
After Team Vitality opened with a 13-7 win on Dust II, Team Falcons pulled even with a 13-6 victory on Train before Team Vitality notched a 13-11 triumph on Inferno. Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut of France posted 50 kills and a plus-5 K-D ratio. Teammate William ‘mezii’ Merriman of the United Kingdom also had a plus-5 K-D ratio along with 46 kills.
For Team Falcons, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovax of Bosnia and Herzegovina led the way with 51 kills and a plus-8 K-D differential.
The playoffs conclude Sunday with the grand final:
–Team Vitality vs. MOUZ
Intel Extreme Masters Dallas prize pool
1. $125,000
2. $50,000
3-4. $25,000 – Team Falcons, The MongolZ
5-6. $12,500 — GamerLegion, Aurora Gaming
7-8. $7,000 — G2 Esports, HEROIC
9-12. $5,000 — 3DMAX, FURIA, FaZe Clan, Team Liquid
13-16. $4,000 — Legacy, Lynn Vision Gaming, BC.Game Esports, NRG
–Field Level Media