Virtus.pro and Vici Gaming won their playoff openers Thursday to advance to the upper-bracket final of the ESL One Hamburg Dota 2 tournament in Germany.
Virtus.pro edged Team Secret 2-1 in their best-of-three semifinal series. Vici toppled Team Aster 2-1 in the other semifinal.
Virtus.pro and Vici will play again Saturday, with the winner advancing directly to Sunday's best-of-five grand final. The loser will play the winner of the lower bracket for the other grand final berth.
Vici and Secret each won in sweeps earlier Thursday to finish the group stage at the event tied atop Group A at 8-2.
Aster (9-1) and Virtus.pro (8-2) had already clinched advancement to the upper bracket of the playoffs out of Group B on Wednesday.
The group stage of the $300,000 Dota 2 tournament featured two groups of six teams each playing a best-of-two round robin. Wins were worth two points, ties worth one and losses worth none.
While the top two teams from each group advanced into the upper bracket of the double-elimination playoffs, the third- and fourth-place teams earned spots in the lower bracket. Teams that finished fifth and sixth were eliminated.
The playoffs conclude with Sunday's grand final, which will pay $125,000 to the winner and $65,000 to the runner-up.
Advancing to the lower bracket out of Group A were Evil Geniuses and paiN Gaming. EG split with Alliance, allowing paiN to hold on to the final playoff spot despite getting swept by Secret. Mineski, who were swept by Vici, finished last in the group.
Meanwhile, compLexity Gaming swept Ninjas in Pyjamas to leapfrog over NiP and into the final playoff spot in Group B. Forward Gaming tarnished Aster's perfect record entering the day with a split and clinched third place in the group. EVOS Esports remained in last courtesy of a Virtus.pro sweep.
The first round of the lower-bracket playoffs will begin Friday. EG draws compLexity, and Forward will take on paiN.
-- Field Level Media