Team Yandex, MOUZ, Team Spirit and BetBoom Team opened the playoffs with victories in the upper-bracket quarterfinal round of the FISSURE Playground 2 event on Tuesday in Belgrade, Serbia.
Team Yandex rallied past Tundra Esports 2-1, MOUZ swept Team Falcons 2-0, Team Spirit blanked HEROIC 2-0 and BetBoom got past Team Liquid 2-1.
The four losing teams are not out of the running yet. They dropped into the lower bracket and have to wait until Friday to play their win-or-go-home matches.
The $1 million Dota 2 event began with 16 teams competing in a Swiss system group stage from Oct. 23-27. The top eight teams from that stage advanced to the double-elimination playoffs.
All playoff matches are best-of-three except for the grand final, which is best-of-five. The winning team will take home a $300,000 prize plus a $50,000 club reward.
On Tuesday, Yandex lost to Tundra in 31 minutes playing on green before bouncing back with a 40-minute win on red and a 30-minute win on green. Ilya 'CHIRA_JUNIOR' Chirtsov of Russia averaged a kills-deaths-assists ratio of 10.3-3.7-11.0 for Yandex.
MOUZ tackled Falcons in 43 minutes and 35 minutes on green. MOUZ's Remco 'Crystallis' Arets of the Netherlands posted a 11.5-1.5-5.0 average K-D-A.
Spirit eased past HEROIC in 38 minutes and 29 minutes, both times on red. Denis 'Larl' Sigitov of Russia paced Spirit with a 7.0-0.5-10.5 average K-D-A.
Team Liquid opened against BetBoom with a 50-minute win on red, but BetBoom fought back and won a 53-minute showdown playing on red and a 37-minute result on green. Russia's Danil 'gpk' Skutin topped BetBoom with an average K-D-A of 8.0-4.7-14.7.
The tournament continues Wednesday with two upper-bracket semifinals:
--Team Yandex vs. MOUZ
--Team Spirit vs. BetBoom Team
Prize pool (money plus club reward)
1. $350,000, TBD
2. $180,000, TBD
3. $105,000, TBD
4. $80,000, TBD
5-6. $55,000, TBD
7-8. $37,000, TBD
9-11. $15,000, Aurora Gaming, Vici Gaming, PARIVISION
12-14. $12,000, Nigma Galaxy, Team Cobra, Runa Team
15-16. $10,000, Yakult Brothers, Virtus.pro
--Field Level Media
