Astralis split matches, still advance at IEM Krakow

NRG pulled out a 2-1 win over Astralis in the last upper-bracket second-round match on Friday at the Intel Extreme Masters Krakow's play-in round in Poland.

The result sent NRG to the group stage, where they will be joined by Astralis, who dumped GamerLegion in a lower-bracket second-round match later in the day. GamerLegion had knocked out HEROIC 2-0 in a lower-bracket first-round contest.

Rounding out the lower-bracket second round, BC.Game Esports swept Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0, FUT Esports trounced Team Liquid 2-0, and Aurora Gaming ousted paiN Gaming 2-0.

The $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began with 24 teams -- 16 competing in a double-elimination play-in bracket with eight already seeded straight into the group stage.

Play-in matches were best-of-three, with eight teams advancing.

The second stage features two groups of eight in double-elimination play involving best-of-three matches. The group winners earn spots in the playoff semifinals, the group runners-up head to the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams go to the playoff quarterfinals as low seeds.

The playoffs will consist of a single-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches until the grand final on Feb. 8, which will be best-of-five.

The championship team will receive $400,000, and the runner-up will get $180,000.

On Friday, NRG opened with a 16-14 overtime win on Mirage, but Astralis pulled level by taking Overpass 13-5. NRG captured the decisive third map, Inferno, 13-7.

The United States' Josh "oSee" Ohm logged 56 kills and a plus-11 kill-death differential for NRG. Denmark's Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard and Sweden's Love "phzy" Smidebrant each posted 55 kills for Astralis.

GamerLegion got past HEROIC 13-7 on Overpass, 13-8 on Mirage behind 35 kills and a plus-6 K-D differential from Sweden's Linus "nilo" Bergman. Another Swede, Fredrik "REZ" Sterner, registered 37 kills and a plus-13 K-D differential for HEROIC.

Astralis routed GamerLegion 13-5 on Inferno, 13-2 on Overpass thanks to 36 kills and a plus-24 K-D differential from phzy. Poland's Milan "hypex" Polowiec put up 27 kills and a plus-4 K-D differential for GamerLegion.

BC.Game Esports took down Ninjas in Pyjamas 13-7 on Dust II, 13-9 on Nuke. Ukraine's Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev recorded 41 kills and a plus-13 K-D differential for BC.Game Esports. Poland's Kacper "xKacpersky" Gabara and Ukraine's Artem "r1nkle" Moroz each had 31 kills for Ninjas in Pyjamas.

FUT Esports eliminated Team Liquid 13-4 on Ancient, 13-9 on Nuke. Ukraine's Nikita "cmtry" Samolotov paced FUT Esports with 34 kills and a plus-15 K-D differential. Israel's Guy "NertZ" Iluz finished with 28 kills and a minus-3 K-D differential for Team Liquid.

Aurora Gaming eased past paiN Gaming 13-7 on Mirage, 13-6 on Overpass. Engin "MAJ3R" Kupeli and Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dortkardes each totaled 34 kills for all-Turkish Aurora Gaming. Guilherme "piriajr" Barbosa amassed 26 kills and a minus-5 K-D differential for all-Brazilian paiN Gaming.

The first-round group-play schedule:

Saturday

Group A -- FURIA vs. FUT Esports

Group A -- G2 Esports vs. The MongolZ

Group A -- Natus Vincere vs. PARIVISION

Group A -- Astralis vs. Team Spirit

Group B -- Team Vitality vs. BC.Game Esports

Group B -- 3DMAX vs. FaZe Clan

Sunday

Group B -- MOUZ vs. NRG

Group B -- Aurora Gaming vs. Team Falcons

Intel Extreme Masters Krakow prize pool

1. $400,000

2. $180,000

3. $100,000

4. $60,000

5-6. $40,000

7-8. $24,000

9-12. $16,000

13-16. $10,000

17-20. $4,500 -- GamerLegion, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid, paiN Gaming

21-24. $2,500 -- Passion UA, Legacy, B8, HEROIC

--Field Level Media