Spirit, Gaimin Gladiators move to 3-0 at PGL Wallachia

Team Spirit and Gaimin Gladiators booked their spots in the PGL Wallachia Season 5 playoffs with group stage wins on Monday in Bucharest, Romania.

Both teams improved to 3-0 with Round 3 wins, with Spirit rallying for a 2-1 win against Natus Vincere and Gaimin Gladiators sweeping Aurora Gaming.

The group stage runs through Wednesday and features 16 teams in a modified Swiss system. All matches are best of three. Eight teams make the playoffs, which are double elimination and start Thursday. All playoff matches are best of three except for Sunday's best-of-five grand final.

The prize pool totals $1 million, with the winner taking home $350,000.

It was the third straight sweep for Gaimin Gladiators, who posted 25- and 34-minute wins on green against Aurora.

NAVI opened with a 49-minute win on red before Team Spirit answered with a 34-minute win on red and a decisive 57-minute triumph on green by a 45-44 score.

There were four matches Monday pitting 1-1 teams, all decided by sweeps: BetBoom Team over Extreme Gaming, Team Tidebound over Wildcard, Team Liquid over OG, and Tundra Esports over Edge.

In matches involving 0-2 teams, HEROIC eliminated AVULUS with a sweep and Nigma Galaxy knocked out Virtus.pro with a 2-1 win.

Action continues Tuesday with six matches in Round 4:

2-1 Group

--Aurora Gaming vs. Tundra Esports

--Team Liquid vs. Team Tidebound

--Natus Vincere vs. BetBoom Team

1-2 Group

--Wildcard vs. OG

--Xtreme Gaming vs. Nigma Galaxy

--Edge vs. HEROIC

PGL Wallachia Season 5 prize pool:

1. $350,000

2. $145,000

3. $100,000

4. $80,000

5-6. $60,000

7-8. $40,000

9-11. $20,000

12-14. $15,000

15-16. $10,000 -- Avulus, Virtus.pro

--Field Level Media