FUT, Vitality, BetBoom, NaVi move to brink of playoffs at PGL Masters

FUT Esports, Team Vitality, BetBoom Team and Natus Vincere each moved to the brink of advancing to the playoffs of the PGL Masters event with their second wins in as many days Sunday in Bucharest, Romania.

All four teams swept their Round 2 high matches and will face off in a pair of Round 3 high matches on Monday. TYLOO, G2 Esports, 9z Team and DENDELE CS will all face elimination Monday after losing their Round 2 low matches Sunday.

The $1.25 million Counter Strike: Global Offensive event pits 16 teams in a Swiss-system format which runs through Wednesday. The eight teams that reach three wins before taking three losses will advance to a single-elimination playoff Thursday through Saturday.

All matches are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final Oct. 31. The winning team will take home $400,000, with half going to the team and half to the players.

FUT beat Team Liquid 2-0 behind a 13-5 Cache victory and a 13-9 clincher on Dust II. Dmytro "dem0n" Myroshnychenko of Ukraine led FUT with a match-high 43 kills and a plus-24 kills-deaths differential.

Vitality swept The MongolZ 13-6 on Inferno and 13-3 on Cache. Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut of France and Israel's Shahar "flameZ" Shushan led the runaway win with 35 and 34 kills, respectively, for Vitality.

BetBoom easily won the opening map against Nemiga Gaming, 13-3 on Anubis, before eking out a 13-11 victory on Mirage to finish the sweep. Aleksandr "zorte" Zagodyrenko had the most kills (43) and least deaths (18) for the all-Russian BetBoom Team.

Natus Vincere came out on top against FURIA with a 13-10 Ancient triumph and a 13-5 Dust II victory. Ukraine's Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy had a 35-20 K-D ratio to anchor NaVi's sweep.

All four of the Round 2 low matches also ended in sweeps. Team Spirit handily swept TYLOO 13-5 on Mirage and 13-3 on Anubis, Aurora Gaming beat G2 Esports 13-11 on Cache and 16-14 on Inferno in overtime, MOUZ won 13-5 on Dust II and 13-3 on Nuke against 9z Team, and Legacy beat DENDELE CS 13-9 on Cache and 19-17 in overtime on Mirage.

Monday's schedule:

Round 3 high matches (advancement)

Team Vitality vs. FUT Esports

BetBoom Team vs. Natus Vincere

Round 3 mid matches

MOUZ vs. The MongolZ

Aurora Gaming vs. Nemiga Gaming

Team Spirit vs. FURIA

Team Liquid vs. Legacy

Round 3 low matches (elimination)

9z Team vs. TYLOO

G2 Esports vs. DENDELE CS

PGL Masters Bucharest prize pool with total prize money, player prize money and team share:

1.$400,000 ($200,000, $200,000)

2. $187,500 ($93,750, $93,750)

3. $150,000 ($75,000, $75,000)

4. $87,500 ($43,750, $43,750)

5-8. $62,500 ($31,250, $31,250)

9-11. $31,250 ($15,625, $15,625)

12-14. $18,750 ($9,375, $9,375)

15-16. $12,500 ($6,250, $6,250)

--Field Level Media