Spirit, Vitality earn byes as playoff field set for IEM Masters Krakow

The playoff field is set as group stage play concluded Tuesday at the Intel Extreme Masters Krakow tournament in Poland.

Team Spirit and Team Vitality were the day's big winners, taking first place in Groups A and B, respectively, to earn byes into the semifinals.

The day began with the Group B lower bracket semifinals, where Team Falcons and MOUZ swept their opponents -- Falcons topped 3DMAX 13-5 on Anubis and 13-9 Dust II, and MOUZ took down FaZe Clan 13-5 on Mirage and 13-6 on Inferno. That eliminated the losers and filled out the lower and upper bracket finals.

The $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament started with 24 teams and is currently in a 16-team double-elimination group stage involving best-of-three matches. The group winners earn spots in the playoff semifinals, the group runners-up head to the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams go to the playoff quarterfinals as low seeds.

The playoffs will consist of a single-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches until the grand final on Sunday, which will be best-of-five. The championship team will receive $400,000, and the runner-up will get $180,000.

In Group A, Spirit needed three maps to take down G2 Esports in the upper bracket final, winning 13-8 on Anubis before losing 13-8 on Overpass. The deciding map, Dust II, went to overtime before Spirit prevailed 16-13.

In the Group A lower bracket, Furia pulled off a reverse sweep to advance, losing 13-8 on Overpass to Astralis before winning 13-11 on Mirage and 13-9 on Nuke. The loss ended Astralis' tournament.

Vitality swept Aurora Gaming in the Group B upper bracket final, but it was far from a breeze. The teams needed four rounds of overtime in the first map of the match, with Vitality taking Ancient 25-22. The second map wasn't nearly as close, as Vitality won 13-7 on Overpass.

In that lower bracket final, MOUZ downed Falcons in another match that needed extra time, as both maps went past regulation. On Inferno in the opener, MOUZ won 16-14 with one round of OT played. In the next map, Falcons fought to stay in the tournament but ultimately fell 19-17 on Dust II with two rounds of OT needed.

Up next are the quarterfinals, where Aurora will face FURIA and MOUZ will play G2 Esports. Those matches will be played Friday, with the winners facing Spirit and Vitality in the semifinals the following day. The grand final and third-place match will be held Sunday.

Intel Extreme Masters Krakow prize pool

1. $400,000

2. $180,000

3. $100,000

4. $60,000

5-6. $40,000

7-8. $24,000 -- Astralis, Team Falcons

9-12. $16,000 -- Natus Vincere, FUT Esports, FaZe Clan, 3DMAX

13-16. $10,000 -- The MongolZ, PARIVISION, BC.Game Esports, NRG

17-20. $4,500 -- GamerLegion, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid, paiN Gaming

21-24. $2,500 -- Passion UA, Legacy, B8, HEROIC

--Field Level Media