Spirit, Gaimin Gladiators advance to BLAST Slam III semifinals

Team Spirit and Gaimin Gladiators earned 2-0 wins on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the BLAST Slam III playoff stage in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Spirit continued a surprise run from Round 1 of the bracket, winning its third match in three days by beating Team Tidebound in the quarterfinals. Gaimin Gladiators blanked Aurora Gaming.

The $1 million Dota 2 tournament began with a single-day group stage featuring two round-robin groups of five teams apiece. All matches were best-of-one. The top teams received byes into the semifinals, the second-place finishers were seeded into the quarterfinals, the third-place teams were seeded into Round 2 and the fourth- and fifth-place teams were placed into Round 1.

The playoff stage will run through Sunday in a single-elimination bracket. All matches are best-of-three until Sunday's best-of-five grand final.

On Friday, Team Spirit prevailed over Team Tidebound in 41 minutes and 55 minutes on red. Denis "Larl" Sigitov of Russia led Spirit with an average kills-deaths-assists ratio of 9.0-4.0-14.5.

Gaimin Gladiators beat Aurora Gaming in 33 minutes on red before pulling out a lengthy 81-minute triumph on green. American Quinn "Quinn" Callahan starred for Gaimin Gladiators with a 15.0-4.5-11.5 average K-D-A.

The tournament continues Saturday with two best-of-three quarterfinal matches:

--Team Falcons vs. Team Spirit

--Tundra Esports vs. Gaimin Gladiators

BLAST Slam III prize pool (prize money, team earnings)

1. $300,000, $100,000 -- TBD

2. $150,000, $50,000 -- TBD

3-4. $60,000, $20,000 -- TBD

5-6. $35,000, $15,000 -- Team Tidebound, Aurora Gaming

7-8. $30,000, $10,000 -- PARIVISION, Xtreme Gaming

9-10. $25,000, $5,000 -- Team Liquid, BetBoom Team

--Field Level Media