MOUZ, Vitality charge into IEM Dallas semifinals

Team Vitality and MOUZ won their groups on Wednesday and earned semifinal berths at the Intel Extreme Masters Dallas event.

Vitality pulled out a 2-1 win over The MongolZ in the Group A upper-bracket final, while MOUZ swept Team Falcons 2-0 in the Group B upper bracket final.

Meanwhile, GamerLegion won two lower-bracket matches in Group A and Aurora Gaming captured two lower-bracket matches in Group B, with both teams advancing to the playoffs.

The $300,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event began with 16 teams divided into two double-elimination groups. The group winners clinched playoff semifinal berths.

The group runners-up will enter the quarterfinals as high seeds, and the two third-place teams will move into the quarterfinals as low seeds. The other five teams in each group were eliminated.

All matches in the group stage and the playoffs are best-of-three except for the grand final on Sunday, which will be best-of-five.

The winning team will earn $125,000, the runner-up will make $50,000.

On Wednesday, Vitality opened with a 13-10 win on Inferno before The MongolZ took Nuke 13-7. Vitality emerged with a 13-11 win on the decisive third map, Mirage.

France's Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut paced Vitality with 56 kills and a plus-12 K-D differential. Garidmagnai "bLitz" Byambasuren registered 54 kills and a plus-10 K-D differential for the all-Mongolian MongolZ squad.

MOUZ topped Team Falcons 13-4 on Dust II, then 16-12 in overtime on Mirage. Hungary's Adam "torzsi" Torzsas posted 46 kills and a plus-28 K-D differential for MOUZ. Russia's Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov wound up with 29 kills and a minus-7 K-D differential for Team Falcons.

In the Group A lower-bracket final, GamerLegion edged G2 Esports 2-1. Earlier, GamerLegion nipped 3DMAX 2-1, and G2 Esports slipped past FURIA 2-1.

Aurora Gaming took the Group B lower-bracket final 2-1 over HEROIC. Aurora had advanced with a 2-0 victory over Team Liquid, while HEROIC eliminated FaZe Clan 2-1.

On Friday, Team Falcons will oppose GameLegion in the quarterfinals for the right to oppose Team Vitality in the semifinals. The MongolZ and Aurora Gaming will clash, with the winning advancing to face MOUZ in the semifinals.

Intel Extreme Masters Dallas prize pool

1. $125,000

2. $50,000

3-4. $25,000

5-6. $12,500

7-8. $7,000 -- G2 Esports, HEROIC

9-12. $5,000 -- 3DMAX, FURIA, FaZe Clan, Team Liquid

13-16. $4,000 -- Legacy, Lynn Vision Gaming, BC.Game Esports, NRG

--Field Level Media