FISSURE Playground 2: G2 among next three to clinch playoffs

G2 Esports, The MongolZ and FURIA Esports became the next three teams to qualify for the playoffs at the $500,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive FISSURE Playground No. 2 event on Tuesday in Belgrade, Serbia.

G2 rallied to beat GamerLegion 2-1, The MongolZ defeated FaZe Clan by the same score and FURIA swept paiN Gaming 2-0 in Round 4 action. The losing sides have one more chance to advance by winning in the do-or-die Round 5 matches on Wednesday.

The 16 teams are competing in an opening-round Swiss Stage -- essentially a triple-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches. High-match winners advance to the playoffs and low-match losers are eliminated.

The top eight teams will advance to the single-elimination playoffs that begin Friday. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be best-of-three, while the grand final on Sunday will be best-of-five.

The championship side will make $200,000 while the runner-up will receive $100,000.

On Tuesday, GamerLegion drubbed G2 13-5 on Overpass before G2 responded by trouncing them 13-2 on Ancient. The final map was Inferno, where G2 pulled out a 13-10 victory. They were led in the match by Slovakian Matus "MATYS" Simko, who had 52 kills and a plus-17 kills-to-deaths differential.

The MongolZ beat FaZe 13-11 on Mirage, absorbed a 16-13 overtime defeat on Inferno and won 13-5 on Ancient to put the match away. Azbayar "Senzu" Munkhbold led the all-Mongolian winning side with 59 kills and a plus-23 differential.

FURIA raced past paiN 13-4 on Inferno and 13-10 on Dust II. Danil "molodoy" Golubenko of Kazakhstan finished with 36 kills on a plus-19 K-D to pace FURIA.

The three Round 4 Low matches spelled the end of the road for 3DMAX, TYLOO and Legacy.

Virtus.pro defeated 3DMAX 2-1, sandwiching a 13-11 victory on Train and another 13-11 result on Dust II around a 13-5 setback on Inferno. Russia's Petr "fame" Bolyshev led Virtus.pro with 47 kills on a plus-8.

Team Liquid, in similar fashion, beat TYLOO by prevailing 13-10 on Ancient, falling 13-9 on Inferno and bouncing back to win 13-8 on Mirage. Canadian Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken led Liquid with 52 kills while Poland's Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak added 49 kills on a match-best plus-9 K-D.

Finally, Astralis eliminated Legacy with consecutive 13-8 victories on Mirage and Nuke. The all-Danish Astralis squad was led by Victor "Staehr" Staehr (42 kills, plus-14).

Wednesday's Round 5 Matches:

--FaZe Clan vs. Team Liquid

--Astralis vs. GamerLegion

--paiN Gaming vs. Virtus.pro

FISSURE Playground No. 2, Swiss Stage standings

1. Aurora Gaming, 3-0 (Buchholz score of zero)

2. Team Falcons, 3-0 (minus-2)

3. FURIA, 3-1 (plus-5)

4. G2 Esports, 3-1 (minus-3)

5. The MongolZ, 3-1 (minus-7)

6. FaZe Clan, 2-2 (plus-3)

7. Astralis, 2-2 (plus-1)

8. paiN Gaming, 2-2 (minus-1)

9. GamerLegion, 2-2 (minus-2)

10. Virtus.pro, 2-2 (minus-2)

11. Team Liquid, 2-2 (minus-3)

12. TYLOO, 1-3 (plus-5)

13. 3DMAX, 1-3 (plus-2)

14. Legacy, 1-3 (plus-2)

15. Lynn Vision Gaming, 0-3 (plus-4)

16. HEROIC, 0-3 (minus-2)