T1, Fuel do double duty to reach Overwatch Midseason playoffs

T1 and the Dallas Fuel both swept two Group A lower-bracket matches on Friday and advanced to the playoffs at the Overwatch Champions Series Midseason Championship in Paris.

Also moving on were Twisted Minds, ZETA DIVISION, Geekay Esports and Spacestation.

The $1 million tournament is part of the Esports World Cup.

The 16-team event began with a double-elimination group stage. All group-stage matches were best-of-three, and the top four teams from both groups made the single-elimination playoffs.

Playoff matches will be best-of-five until the grand final on Sunday, which will be best-of-seven.

The championship team will earn $400,000 and 1,000 Esports World Cup club points.

On Friday, T1 downed 9z Team in the Group A lower-bracket quarterfinals, prevailing 2-1 on Samoa Control and 3-0 on New Junk City Flashpoint. T1 then defeated Team Falcons 2-1 on Samoa Control and 1-0 on Shambali Monastery Escort.

In the other Group A lower-bracket quarterfinal, the Fuel squeezed past Team Liquid 2-1 on Nepal Control and 3-2 on New Junk City Flashpoint. Dallas moved on to dump Virtus.pro 2-0 on Nepal Control and 3-1 on New Junk City Flashpoint.

Earlier, Twisted Minds swept Virtus.pro in an Group A upper-bracket semifinal.

In a Group B upper-bracket semifinal, ZETA DIVISION prevailed 2-1 over Geekay Esports. The Group B lower-bracket semifinals saw Geekay Esports oust JD Gaming 2-0 and Spacestation slip past VARREL 2-1.

The Saturday quarterfinal matchups:

--Twisted Minds vs. Geekay Esports

--Weibo Gaming vs. Spacestation

--ZETA DIVISION vs. Dallas Fuel

--Crazy Raccoon vs. T1

Overwatch Champions Series Midseason Championship prize pool, with money and Esports World Cup club points

1. $400,000, 1,000

2. $180,000, 750

3. $100,000, 500

4. $60,000, 300

5-8. $35,000, 200

9-12. $20,000, no points -- Team Falcons, Virtus.pro, JD Gaming, VARREL

13-16. $10,000, no points -- 9z Team, Team Liquid, Team Secret, AG.AL International

--Field Level Media