3DMAX first team into Thunderpick World Championship quarters

Field Level Media|published: Tue 22nd October, 24:02 2024

A crowd full of Austin FC fans cheered for Austin FC's eMLS player, John Garcia, during the eMLS Cup tournament at the Moody Theater on March 13, 2022. The eMLS Cup is the championship tournament that determines which player is the best FIFA esports player in North America. Aem Sxsw Emls Cup 16

3DMAX swept through its two matches on Monday and became the first team to advance to the quarterfinals of the Thunderpick World Championship in Berlin.

After beating Team Falcons 13-10 on Anubis and 13-9 on Nuke, 3DMAX took down OG in the Group A winners match 13-10 on Ancient and 13-11 on Inferno.

The $850,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began Monday and runs through Nov. 3.

A series of qualifiers in Europe, North America and South America set the 16-team field for the World Championship. The teams are divided into four groups of four teams. Each group plays a double-elimination tournament (best-of-three format), with the group winner advancing to the quarterfinals and the second- and third-place teams playing a decider match for the group's other spot in the quarterfinals.

The single-elimination playoffs are best-of-three except for the final, which will be best-of-five. The championship team will take home $500,000, while the runner-up will get $150,000.

The all-French 3DMAX squad got a balanced effort in both matches, with Pierre "Ex3rcice" Bulinge (74 kills, plus-15 kill-death ratio) and Lucas "Lucky" Chastang (73 kills, plus-21) leading the way.

In the other first-round Group A match, OG used a reverse sweep to send Virtus.pro to the elimination match, winning 13-11 on Ancient and 13-5 on Anubis after dropping Dust II 13-10 in the opening map. Christian "Buzz" Andersen of Denmark had a match-high 58 kills in the win.

In the elimination match, Virtus made short work of Falcons, winning 13-9 on Mirage and 13-8 on Anubis. Evgenii "FL1T" Lebedev led the all-Russian Virtus.pro team with 40 kills and a plus-16 K-D differential.

While 3DMAX advances to the quarters, Virtus will face OG in the Group A decider match on Friday.

Thunderpick World Championship upcoming group play schedule

Group B -- Tuesday

The MongolZ vs. Cloud9

9z Team vs. Fnatic

Group C -- Wednesday

HEROIC vs. Legacy

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Imperial Esports

Group D -- Thursday

Aurora Gaming vs. BIG

M80 vs. BESTIA

Thunderpick World Championship prize pool