Liquid, Tundra eke out playoff wins at PGL Wallachia 3

Team Liquid and Tundra Esports came from behind to win their upper-bracket quarterfinal matches on Thursday at PGL Wallachia 3 in Bucharest, Romania.

Liquid overtook Aurora Gaming 2-1, and Tundra edged Gaimin Gladiators 2-1.

In the other upper-bracket quarterfinals, Xtreme Gaming swept Team Tidebound 2-0, and Team Falcons topped Team Spirit 2-0.

The $1 million Dota 2 tournament began last weekend and runs through Sunday. All matches in the double-elimination playoffs are best-of-three except for the grand final, which is best-of-five. The championship team will earn $300,000.

On Thursday, Aurora opened with a 36-minute win on red, but Liquid recovered to take the last two maps, both in 45 minutes on red. Poland's Michal "Nisha" Jankowski paced Liquid with an average 9.0/3.3/13.3 kill-death-assist ratio. Russia's Egor "Nightfall" Grigorenko wound up at 6.7/3.3/6.7 for Aurora.

After Gaimin Gladiators earned a 35-minute victory on red, Tundra recovered with two wins on red, in 42 minutes and 48 minutes. Bulgaria's Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov logged an 8.7/6.7/10.0 K-D-A ratio for Tundra. The United States' Quinn "Quinn" Callahan finished at 10.0/3.7/10.3 for Gaimin Gladiators.

Xtreme Gaming topped Team Tidebound in 42 minutes on red and 39 minutes on green. Guo "Xm" Hongcheng guided the all-Chinese Xtreme Gaming roster with a 9.5/2.0/12.5 K-D-A ratio. China's Guo "shiro" Xuanang posted a 6.5/4.0/4.0 K-D-A ratio for Tidebound.

Falcons stopped Spirit twice on red, in 42 minutes and 43 minutes. Slovakia's Oliver "skiter" Lepko amassed a 14.0/0.5/9.5 K-D-A ratio for Falcons. Russia's Denis "Larl" Sigitov recorded a 5.5/4.0/7.5 K-D-A ratio for Spirit.

The Friday schedule:

--Upper-bracket semifinal: Xtreme Gaming vs. Team Liquid

--Upper-bracket semifinal: Team Falcons vs. Tundra Esports

--Lower-bracket first round: Team Tidebound vs. Aurora Gaming

--Lower-bracket first round: Team Spirit vs. Gaimin Gladiators

PGL Wallachia Season 3 prize pool

1. $300,000

2. $175,000

3. $120,000

4. $80,000

5-6. $60,000

7-8. $40,000

9-11. $20,000 -- HEROIC, Natus Vincere, Yellow Submarine

12-14. $15,000 -- Nigma Galaxy, AVULUS, Wildcard

15-16. $10,000 -- OG, Mosquito Clan

--Field Level Media