LGD, PARIVISION earn playoff byes at BLAST Slam VII

LGD Gaming, PARIVISION and BetBoom Team forged a three-way tie at 8-3 atop the group-stage standings of BLAST Slam VII after a chaotic final day Friday in Copenhagen, Denmark.

LGD and PARIVISION earned the top two seeds in the playoffs over BetBoom based on tiebreakers. Team Falcons, which entered the final day of the stage alone at the top at 7-1, lost all three of its matches Friday to plummet into fourth.

Further down the standings, OG and Tundra Esports received the last two playoff nods via tiebreaker advantages over Xtreme Gaming, which was eliminated along with last-place GLYPH.

The $1 million event began with a 12-team group stage that ran Tuesday through Friday. Group play was a round-robin, best-of-one format. The top two teams advanced to the upper-bracket semifinals of the playoffs, while the third- and fourth-place teams will start in the upper-bracket quarters.

The fifth- and sixth-place teams proceed to Round 2 of the last-chance qualifier, while teams 7-10 in the standings will begin in Round 1 of that stage. Both rounds of the last-chance qualifier will be played Saturday.

On Friday, LGD Gaming and BetBoom Team each went 3-0 to rocket up the standings. LGD defeated Xtreme Gaming in 40 minutes on green, Tundra Esports in 55 minutes on green and Team Yandex in a whopping 112 minutes, also on green.

Santiago "TaiLung" Aguero Gustavo of Peru led LGD in that marathon final match with a 22-8-27 kills-deaths-assists ratio. His Bolivian-Argentine teammate Adrian "Wisper" Dobles added a 20-9-28 K-D-A.

BetBoom's first win of the day was also one of Team Falcons' three defeats. Ilya "Kiritych" Ulyanov of Russia led BetBoom with a 17-1-15 and countryman Danil "gpk" Skutin had a 13-1-16 in the 42-minute win on red.

BetBoom went on to beat Tundra in 48 minutes on red and GLYPH in 41 minutes on green.

Falcons, meanwhile, took losses to Team Liquid and PARIVISION as well. PARIVISION joined the tie at the top by going 2-1 on the day; they opened with a 48-minute defeat to Team Spirit before coasting past Falcons in 30 minutes on green and beating Liquid in 37 minutes on green.

The tournament continues with four last-chance qualifier matches Saturday:

--Team Spirit vs. OG (Round 1)

--Aurora Gaming vs. Tundra Esports (Round 1)

--Team Yandex vs. Spirit/OG winner (Round 2)

--Team Liquid vs. Aurora/Tundra winner (Round 2)

BLAST Slam VII final group standings

1. LGD Gaming, 8-3

2. PARIVISION, 8-3

3. BetBoom Team, 8-3

T4. Team Falcons, 7-4

T4. Team Yandex, 7-4

6. Team Liquid, 6-5

7. Aurora Gaming, 6-5

8. Team Spirit, 5-6

T9. OG, 3-8

T9. Tundra Esports, 3-8

11. Xtreme Gaming, 3-8

12. GLYPH, 2-9

BLAST Slam VII payouts (prize money, team earnings)

1. $300,000, $100,000

2. $150,000, $45,000

3. $70,000, $23,000

4. $50,000, $17,000

5-6. $40,000, $15,000

7-8. $25,000, $10,000

9-10. $15,000, $5,000

11-12. $10,000, $2,500 -- Xtreme Gaming, GLYPH

--Field Level Media