Falcons asserting themselves as FISSURE Playground 2 rolls on

A day after surrendering three total points in their opening match, Team Falcons on Sunday showed they are one of the teams to beat as play continued at the $500,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive FISSURE Playground No. 2 event in Belgrade, Serbia.

Saturday's 13-1, 13-2 win over Virtus.pro made Falcons one of eight teams to advance to Sunday's Round 2 high matches. With Sunday's 2-0 win over Legacy (13-4 on Inferno and 19-16 in overtime on Ancient), Falcons now sit one win away from advancing to playoffs beginning next Friday.

The 16 teams are competing in an opening-round Swiss Stage -- essentially a triple-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches. The top eight teams will advance to the single-elimination playoffs, which begin on Friday.

The quarterfinals and semifinals will be best-of-three, while the grand final on Sept. 21 will be best-of-five.

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

Sunday featured four matches between teams that won their first match (high matches) and four matches between teams that lost their opener (low matches). The four high-match winners were FaZe Clan (2-1 over 3DMAX), Aurora Gaming (2-0 over TYLOO), FURIA (2-0 over G2 Esports) and Falcons.

On Monday, FaZe will play Falcons and Aurora faces FURIA. The two winners will advance to the playoffs. The losers will move on to Round 4 on Tuesday.

FaZe needed a reverse sweep to top 3DMAX, losing 13-10 on Nuke before winning 13-3 on Ancient and 13-6 on Dust II. Falcons began a run of sweeps with their win as Aurora followed with a 13-10 win on Inferno and 13-11 win on Mirage in downing TYLOO. FURIA took care of G2 13-7 on Inferno and 16-14 in overtime on Overpass.

In the low matches Sunday, The MongolZ swept Lynn Vision Gaming 13-11 on Dust II and 13-6 on Ancient in the first match. Astralis then downed Virtus.pro 13-7 on Ancient and 13-11 on Train. GamerLegion dropped Team Liquid 13-1 on Dust II and 13-6 on Inferno. The final low match was the closest, with paiN Gaming losing 13-11 on Dust II before winning 13-10 on Mirage and 22-20 in triple overtime on Nuke to beat HEROIC.

Monday's third round will feature high matches (between 2-0 teams), mid matches (1-1 teams) and low matches (0-2 teams).

High-match winners advance to the playoffs. Low-match losers are eliminated. High-match losers, low-match winners and all mid-match participants will play in Round 4 on Tuesday.

Monday's Round 3 Matches

High Matches

--FaZe Clan vs. Team Falcons

--Aurora Gaming vs. FURIA

Mid Matches

--TYLOO vs. The MongolZ

--Astralis vs. paiN Gaming

--3DMAX vs. GamerLegion

--G2 Esports vs. Legacy

Low Matches

--Team Liquid vs. HEROIC

--Virtus.pro vs. Lynn Vision Gaming

FISSURE Playground No. 2, Swiss Stage standings

1. Team Falcons, 2-0 (plus-35 round differential)

2. FaZe Clan, 2-0 (plus-21)

3. FURIA, 2-0 (plus-12)

4. Aurora Gaming, 2-0 (plus-6)

5. TYLOO, 1-1 (plus-14)

6. The MongolZ, 1-1 (plus-10)

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

T8. G2 Esports, 1-1 (even)

T8. GamerLegion, 1-1 (even)

10. paiN Gaming, 1-1 (minus-4)

11. Legacy, 1-1 (minus-5)

12. 3DMAX, 1-1 (minus-15)

13. HEROIC, 0-2 (minus-10)

14. Lynn Vision Gaming, 0-2 (minus-17)

15. Team Liquid, 0-2 (minus-23)

16. Virtus.pro, 0-2 (minus-31)

--Field Level Media