PARIVISION, Imperial, B8 move on at StarLadder Budapest Major

PARIVISION, Imperial Esports and B8 punched their tickets to Stage 3 of the StarLadder Budapest Major with victories Monday.

In the Round 4 High matches, PARIVISION swept Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0, while Imperial outlasted M80 and B8 beat 3DMAX by 2-1 scores.

The losing sides have one more chance to advance out of Stage 2 in Tuesday's Round 5 matches. They'll be joined by the winners of the do-or-die Round 4 Low matches, Passion UA, Astralis and Team Liquid.

Thirty-two teams began play in the $1.25 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event, which features three consecutive Swiss System stages ahead of the playoffs. Sixteen teams compete in each stage. Eight invited teams started in Stage 2, which runs through Tuesday, and eight more got a bye into Stage 3 (Dec. 4-7). The top eight teams in each stage move on.

In each Swiss System stage, elimination and advancement matches are best-of-three and all others are best-of-one.

The tournament concludes with a single-elimination playoff stage Dec. 11-14. All matches are best-of-three until the grand final, which is best-of-five. The winner will take home $500,000.

On Monday, PARIVISION beat Ninjas in Pyjamas twice in overtime, 19-16 on Dust II and 16-12 on Train. Russia's Emil "nota" Moskvitin led the victors with 56 kills and a plus-16 kills-to-deaths ratio.

Imperial sandwiched 13-11 wins on Mirage and Train around a 13-2 blowout loss to M80 on Dust II. Three players had at least 43 kills for Imperial, led by 49 from Brazilian Kaiky "noway" Santos.

B8 fell behind when 3DMAX won 13-3 on Train, but they responded by winning 13-9 on Ancient and 13-8 on Dust II. Artem "kensizor" Kapran of Ukraine paced B8 with 53 kills on a plus-12 K-D.

The Round 4 Low matches saw Fnatic, Aurora Gaming and TYLOO bow out. Passion UA beat Fnatic 13-11 on Overpass and 13-7 on Inferno; Astralis fell to Aurora 13-11 on Nuke but rallied with a 13-8 result on Train and a 13-11 victory on Mirage; and Liquid slipped up on Ancient 13-9 before beating TYLOO 13-5 on Train and 16-14 in OT on Inferno.

The stage will conclude Tuesday with three Round 5 matches:

--Passion UA vs. M80

--Team Liquid vs. Astralis

--Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. 3DMAX

Standings

(TEAM W-L, Round Difference, Buchholz Score)

1. Natus Vincere, 3-0, +26, 1

2. FaZe Clan, 3-0, +14, -2

3. B8, 3-1, -5, 1

4. Imperial Esports, 3-1, +1, -2

5. PARIVISION, 3-1, +11, -4

6. Ninjas in Pyjamas, 2-2, -7, 3

7. Team Liquid, 2-2, 0, -1

8. Passion UA, 2-2, -2, -2

9. M80, 2-2, +5, -2

10. 3DMAX, 2-2, +10, -3

11. Astralis, 2-2, +10, -5

12. Aurora Gaming, 1-3, -3, 5

13. Fnatic, 1-3, -6, 4

14. TYLOO, 1-3, -6, 2

15. FlyQuest, 0-3, -27, 3

16. MIBR, 0-3, -21, 2

--Field Level Media