Gladiators, Tidebound open with sweeps at Wallachia Season 5 group stage

Team Tidebound and the Gaimin Gladiators swept to victory on the first day of the group stage on Saturday in PGL Wallachia Season 5 in Bucharest, Romania.

The group stage runs through Wednesday and features 16 teams in a modified Swiss system. All matches are best of three. Eight teams will advance to the playoffs, which are double elimination and run from June 26-29. All playoff matches are best of three except for the final, which is best of five.

The prize pool totals $1 million, with the winner taking home $350,000.

Team Tidebound swept Virtus.pro in 32 minutes and 26 minutes, both on green. Cheng "NothingToSay" Jin Xiang of Malaysia led Tidebound with a kills-deaths-assists average of 10-0-6.5.

The Gaimin Gladiators swept AVULUS in 41 minutes on red and 43 minutes on green. Alimzhan "Watson" Islambekov of Kazakhstan had a K-D-A average of 8-3-11.2.

Xtreme Gaming took a 2-1 decision over Tundra Esports, winning the opening map in 47 minutes on red, losing in 38 minutes on red, then going 29 minutes on green for the victory. Wang "Ame" Chunyu of China averaged a 5-2.7-8 on K-D-A.

Aurora Gaming dropped the first map before downing OG 2-1. OG won in 41 minutes on green, then Aurora Gaming rallied with wins of 23 minutes and 30 minutes. Both on red. Gleb "kiyotaka" Zyryanov of Russia led Aurora with a K-D-A average of 10.3-3-9.7.

Team Liquid similarly rallied against HEROIC, which led after a 49-minute battle on red. Team Liquid came back, however, with a 42-minute win on red and a 41-minute victory on green.

Edge topped BetBoom Team, which was up after a win in 38 minutes on red. Edge won in 39 minutes on red and 31 minutes on green.

Team Spirit dropped the opening map to Wildcard, which won in 42 minutes on red. Team Spirit stayed on green and won in 30 and 32 minutes.

Natus Vincere defeated Nigma Galaxy 2-1, taking the opener in 40 minutes on green. Nigma won in 29 minutes on green, then Natus Vincere claimed the match with a marathon 56-minute win on green.

Sunday's matches for teams with 1-0 records:

--Team Tidebound vs. Gaimin Gladiators

--Team Liquid vs. Natus Vincere

--Aurora Gaming vs. Xtreme Gaming

--Team Spirit vs. Edge

Sunday's matches for teams with 0-1 records:

--Tundra Esports vs. AVULUS

--BetBoom Team vs. Virtus.pro

--HEROIC vs. Wildcard

--Nigma Galaxy vs. OG

Prize pool:

1. $350,000

2. $145,000

3. $100,000

4. $80,000

5-6. $60,000

7-8. $40,000

9-11. $20,000

12-14. $15,000

15-16. $10,000

--Field Level Media