Legacy avoid disastrous collapse in FISSURE Playground 2 opener

After storming back from a map down to seemingly take control of the match, Legacy nearly gave it back in stunning fashion before finally holding off HEROIC in the opening match for both teams at the $500,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive FISSURE Playground No. 2 event in Belgrade, Serbia, on Saturday.

The up-and-down match was the highlight of the four-match second day of the event, with G2 Esports, FaZe Clan and FURIA also picking up wins as Round 1 concluded.

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.

Saturday's opening match was the day's best. After HEROIC took Nuke 13-9 to open the match, Legacy erupted to score nine of the final 10 points in the first half of the second map, Mirage. Legacy stretched the lead to 12-3 after scoring the first three points of the second half, but HEROIC went on a 9-0 run to make it 12-12 and force overtime. Ultimately, Legacy took the map 16-13 and then won 13-5 on Dust II to win the match.

HEROIC's Yasin "xfl0ud" Koc of Turkey led in all players with 56 kills and a plus-10 kill-death differential in defeat. Bruno 'latto' Rebelatto and Guilherme 'saadzin' Pacheco each reached the 50-kill mark for the All-Brazilian Legacy outfit. Three other players also notched between 45 and 46 kills, offsetting the top-heavy attack of HEROIC.

The final match of the day was another 2-1 affair, with FURIA losing 13-9 on Dust II before wining 13-11 on Inferno and 13-7 on Train to beat Team Liquid 2-1. Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato of Brazil led FURIA with a match-high 62 kills and a plus-22 kill-death differential.

In the other two matches of the day, FaZe beat paiN Gaming 13-11 on Nuke and 13-8 on Mirage, and G2 topped Lynn Vision Gaming 13-10 on Dust II and 13-8 on Inferno.

Both the Round 2 high matches (between Round 1 winners) and low matches (Round 1 losers) will be played Sunday before Monday's Round 3 games.

Sunday's Round 2 matches

High Matches

--FaZe Clan vs. 3DMAX

--Team Falcons vs. Legacy

--Aurora Gaming vs. TYLOO

--FURIA vs. G2 Esports

Low Matches

--The MongolZ vs. Lynn Vision Gaming

--Virtus.pro vs. Astralis

--GamerLegion vs. Team Liquid

--HEROIC vs. paiN Gaming

FISSURE Playground No. 2, Swiss Stage standings

1. Team Falcons, 1-0 (plus-23 round differential)

2. TYLOO, 1-0 (plus-19)

3. G2 Esports, 1-0 (plus-8)

T4. FaZe Clan, 1-0 (plus-7)

T4. Legacy, 1-0 (plus-7)

6. FURIA, 1-0 (plus-4)

7. Aurora Gaming, 1-0 (plus-1)

8. 3DMAX, 1-0 (minus-1)

9. The MongolZ, 0-1 (plus-1)

10. Astralis, 0-1 (minus-1)

11. Team Liquid, 0-1 (minus-4)

T12. HEROIC, 0-1 (minus-7)

T12. paiN Gaming, 0-1 (minus-7)

14. Lynn Vision Gaming, 0-1 (minus-8)

15. GamerLegion, 0-1 (minus-19)

16. Virtus.pro, 0-1 (minus-23)

FISSURE Playground No. 2 prize pool

1. $200,000

2. $100,000

3-4. $40,000

5-8. $17,500

9-11. $10,000

12-14. $5,000

15-16. $2,500

--Field Level Media