MongolZ, FURIA win groups at YaLLa Compass

The MongolZ and FURIA Esports emerged atop their respective groups at the end of Group Stage action on Thursday at the YaLLA Compass event in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The MongolZ went 2-1 over three matches on Thursday and beat Ninjas in Pyjamas 13-6 in a pivotal showdown to win Group A. FURIA Esports ran the table with three wins in three matches to claim Group B.

The full playoff field of six was decided by Thursday's outcomes, while the other six teams were eliminated.

The $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event features 12 teams separated into two groups for round-robin play consisting of best-of-one matches. The first-place team in each group heads to the playoff semifinals, the second-place team in each group goes to the playoff quarterfinals as a high seed and the third-place team in each group qualifies for the playoff quarterfinals as a low seed.

The single-elimination playoffs will consist of best-of-three matches. The winner of the grand final on Sunday will earn $200,000.

On Thursday, The MongolZ defeated HEROIC 13-9 on Mirage before meeting Ninjas in Pyjamas, which turned out to be for Group A supremacy. Playing on Nuke, The MongolZ prevailed 13-6, led by 20 kills and a plus-9 kills-to-deaths differential by Usukhbayar "910" Banzragch of Mongolia.

Ninjas in Pyjamas went on to beat Sashi 13-7 to finish a 2-1 day and take second place behind The MongolZ, who wrapped up the stage by falling 13-8 to Astralis.

Astralis took third place in Group A at 3-2. They also won two of their three matches on the day, a 13-3 drubbing of ENCE coming before the match against The MongolZ.

FURIA owned Group B, as they beat Eternal Fire 13-7, Fnatic 13-11 and Complexity Gaming 13-9. To complete FURIA's perfect day, Yuri "yuurih" Santos of Brazil had 20 kills and a plus-8 K-D in the win over Complexity on Inferno.

BetBoom had two wins on Thursday, beating Complexity 13-8 and Eternal Fire 13-11, but settled for second via tiebreaker. Fnatic went 2-for-3 on the day to take third place.

Complexity had a 2-0 start to the Group Stage on Wednesday before losing all three of their matches on Thursday to fall from first place to miss the playoffs entirely.

The tournament continues Friday with two quarterfinal matches:

--BetBoom Team vs. Astralis

--Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Fnatic

YaLLa Compass Group Stage standings (match record, map differential)

Group A

1. The MongolZ, 4-1, plus-14

2. Ninjas in Pyjamas, 4-1, plus-11

3. Astralis, 3-2, plus-15

4. HEROIC, 2-3, minus-1

5. ENCE, 1-4, minus-20

6. Sashi Esport, 1-4, minus-19

Group B

1. FURIA Esports, 4-1, plus-14

2. BetBoom Team, 4-1, plus-5

3. Fnatic, 3-2, plus-13

4. Complexity Gaming, 2-3, minus-8

5. Eternal Fire, 1-4, minus-12

6. BIG, 1-4, minus-12

YaLLa Compass prize pool

1. $200,000

2. $56,000

3-4. $28,000

5-6. $20,000

7-8. $8,000 -- HEROIC, Complexity Gaming

9-10. $8,000 -- ENCE, Eternal Fire

11-12. $8,000 -- Sashi Esport, BIG

--Field Level Media