Field whittled to 8 teams at CS Asia Championships

MOUZ, paiN Gaming, PARIVISION and The MongolZ advanced to the lower-bracket finals in Thursday's action at the CS Asia Championships in Shanghai.

The $400,000 Counter-Strike 2 event began Wednesday with two double-elimination groups, with the top three teams from each group advancing to the playoffs: group stage winners to the semifinals, runners-up to the quarterfinals as the high seeds, and the third-place teams to the quarterfinals as low seeds.

The single-elimination playoff bracket begins Friday, with all playoff matches best-of-three until Sunday's best-of-five grand final. The winning team will take home $150,000.

MOUZ and paiN Gaming advanced to the lower-bracket final in Group A. MOUZ moved on with 2-1 wins against NRG and M80, while paiN Gaming swept BC.Game Esports and posted a 2-1 win against TYLOO.

In Group B, PARIVISION and The MongolZ reached the lower-bracket final. PARIVISION beat Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 and swept Lynn Vision Gaming, while The MongolZ eliminated Team Liquid with a 2-1 win.

Friday's schedule:

Group A:

--Team Falcons vs. Legacy (upper-bracket final)

--paiN Gaming vs. MOUZ (lower-bracket final)

Group B:

--B8 vs. MIBR (upper-bracket final)

--PARIVISION vs. The MongolZ (lower-bracket final)

Playoff quarterfinals:

--Group B 2nd place vs. Group A 3rd place

--Group A 2nd place vs. Group B 3rd place

CS Asia Championship prize pool:

1. $150,000

2. $70,000

3. $60,000

4. $40,000

5-6. $20,000

7-8. $10,000

9-12. $4,000 -- TYLOO, M80, Lynn Vision Gaming, Team Liquid

13-16. $1,000 -- BC.Game Esports, NRG, Ninjas in Pyjamas, 3DMAX

--Field Level Media