Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere came out on top of their respective groups during Day 3 of the ELeague Major in Atlanta, Georgia, finishing with a 3-0 record to advance to the playoffs. However, Tuesday's action also saw HellRaisers and FlipSid3 eliminated following 0-3 finishes. Here's how Day 3 played out.
Day 3 started with a match between Fnatic and mousesports, with each team needing a win to stay in the playoffs hunt. Mousesports' Nikola "NiKo" Kovačs helped give his team an early 5-0 lead and gain a stable economy. Despite that, Fnatic ended the half strong, finding themselves behind only 9-6. Fnatic's Simon "twist" Eliasson started the second half with a triple kill in the second pistol round that sparked eight consecutive round wins. The Swedes only gave up two rounds in the second half to take the 16-11 victory and secure a 2-1 record.
The next match featured North giving the boot to HellRaisers in overtime. North kicked things off with a pistol round win and a secured first weapon round thanks to Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen knife to Vladyslav "bondik" Nechyporchuk, adding more money to his bank. However, HellRaisers bounced back behind its in-game leader Martin "STYKO" Styk, who led the team to seven straight round wins, finishing the first half down 8-7. The second half remained tight, with both teams fighting back and forth until Ruben "RUBINO" Villarroel's quad kill sent the match into overtime. North's defense stood strong as the Danes blew out its opposition in overtime 19-15, earning a 2-1 record while eliminating HellRaisers from the Major.
Virtus.pro was the first team to finish 3-0, thanks to its victory over Gambit. The Polish Plow started off strong, building an early 6-2 lead on the defense before Gambit fired back. Thanks to an aggressive push by Danylo "Zeus" Teslenko onto the A-bombsite, Gambit rallied back to finish the first half down just 8-7. However, Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas got four kills on the second pistol round to extend the lead for the Polish Plow as the team would cruise to a 16-10 victory.
The second team to go 3-0 on Day 3, Natus Vincere, came on the heels of a blowout over SK Gaming. Natus Vincere started off red hot, winning the first five out of six rounds before Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo's team responded. However, SK Gaming struggled to win consecutive rounds in the first half, only taking three rounds away as Natus Vincere closed out the half 12-3. SK Gaming proceeded to lose the next four rounds to open the second half, giving way for Natus Vincere to clinch a 16-3 win and a spot in the playoffs.
The final match of the day saw OpTic Gaming and FlipSid3 Tactics battle for their survival at the Major. FlipSid3 struck first with a pistol round win on the defense, but OpTic came right back, evening the score early. After getting its economy established, FlipSid3 won four consecutive rounds to take the lead 5-2, eventually pushing the lead to 10-5 at the half. Following a round loss to open the second half, the North Americans stormed back winning nine consecutive rounds to turn the game back in its favor. From there the Green Wall would stave off a late push from FlipSid3, winning the match 16-13, knocking FlipSid3 out of the tournament.