Tundra, Falcons close in on playoff spots at BLAST Slam IV

Tundra Esports and Team Falcons continued their strong performances Friday, remaining atop the standings at the BLAST Slam IV heading into the final day of group-stage play.

Tundra Esports defeated Execration, moving into sole possession of first with a victory over Team Falcons to improve to 8-1. Team Falcons rebounded from the loss by beating Execration as well to sit at 7-2 going into Saturday.

That proved to be a significant win for Team Falcons, as they held on to a highly coveted top-two spot that comes with an automatic berth in the semifinals. They finished just ahead of HEROIC and Team Spirit, both of whom are 6-3.

The $1 million Dota 2 tournament has a five-day group stage featuring 12 teams in a round-robin format, running through Saturday. All matches in the round robin are best-of-one.

In addition to the two byes, the third- through eighth-place finishers advance to a Play-In, while the bottom four teams will square off in a best-of-three Last Chance Playoff on Sunday.

The winner of the Last Chance Playoff gets the final spot in the Play-In, while the other three teams are eliminated. The Play-In is a best-of-three, with the first round also taking place Sunday. The winners advance to the playoffs, which will run from Nov. 7-9. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be a best-of-three, while the grand final is a best-of-five.

The championship squad will receive $750,000 as prize money, in addition to $250,000 in team earnings.

On Friday, Tundra Esports topped Execration in 28 minutes. Then, in a meeting of the top two teams, they needed 57 minutes to get past Team Falcons. Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko paced Tundra Esports with a combined 28-3-17 kill-death assist ratio.

In addition to the loss to Tundra Esports, Team Falcons also registered a win over Execration in 34 minutes. Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak logged a combined 17-7-20 K-D-A ratio for Team Falcons.

The Friday schedule:

--Team Spirit vs. MOUZ

--Team Liquid vs. Yakult Brothers

--Team Spirit vs. HEROIC

--Team Falcons vs. Team Aureus

--Team Liquid vs. MOUZ

--BetBoom Team vs. HEROIC

--Team Falcons vs. Aurora Gaming

--Tundra Esports vs. Team Aureus

-- BetBoom Team vs. Natus Vincere

--Aurora Gaming vs. Execration

--Tundra Esports vs. Yakult Brothers

--Team Liquid vs. Aurora Gaming

-- Natus Vincere vs. Execration

BLAST Slam IV standings

1. Tundra Esports, 8-1

2. Team Falcons, 7-2

T3. HEROIC, 6-3

T3. Team Spirit, 6-3

T5. MOUZ, 5-4

T5. Natus Vincere, 5-4

T7. Aurora Gaming, 4-5

T7. Team Aureus, 4-5

T9. BetBoom Team, 3-6

T9. Team Liquid, 3-6

11. Execration, 2-7

12. Yakult Brothers, 1-8

BLAST Slam IV prize pool ($1 million total with $750,000 awarded as prize money and $250,000 as team earnings):

1. $300,000 ($100,000 team earnings), TBD

2. $150,000 ($50,000 team), TBD

3-4. $60,000 ($20,000 team), TBD

5-6. $35,000 ($15,000 team), TBD

7-8. $30,000 ($7,500 team), TBD

9-10. $25,000 ($5,000 team), TBD

11-12. $10,00 ($2,500 team), TBD

--Field Level Media