Tundra, Falcons keep pace in BLAST Slam V group stage

Tundra Esports and Team Falcons each won two matches on Friday to remain tied for first place in the BLAST Slam V group stage.

Both teams are 8-1, while Team Yandex sit in third place at 6-3 after splitting a pair of Friday matches.

The $1 million Dota 2 event is starting with 12 teams competing in a round-robin of single-map matches. The top two teams in the group-stage standings move straight into the playoff semifinals, while the next six teams head to a play-in event. Teams that come in ninth through 12th will compete in a last-chance playoff on Sunday.

One team will advance out of the last-chance playoff into the play-in event, also on Sunday. Four head-to-head, best-of-three play-in matches will be held, with the four winners earning playoff quarterfinal berths and the other teams eliminated.

The single-elimination playoffs are scheduled for Dec. 5-7 in Chengdu, China. The quarterfinals and semifinals will feature best-of-three matches, and the grand final will be best-of-five.

The championship team will receive $300,000 in prize money and $100,000 in team earnings.

On Friday, Tundra Esports opened with a 33-minute win over Xtreme Gaming on red. Russia's Ivan "Pure" Moskalenko led Tundra with a 14-1-11 kill-death-assist ratio. China's Wang "Ame" Chunyu logged a 9-4-3 K-D-A ratio for Xtreme Gaming.

Tundra then took down Yakult Brothers in 31 minutes on red behind a 19-0-11 K-D-A ratio from Bulgaria's Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov. No Yakult Brothers player had more than two kills.

Team Falcons pushed past MOUZ in 37 minutes on red. Slovakia's Oliver "skiter" Lepko topped Team Falcons with a 12-1-10 K-D-A ratio, while Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng wound up at 8-7-6 for MOUZ.

Team Falcons then needed 52 minutes to close out a victory over Execration on red. Denmark's Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen propelled Team Falcons with an 11-8-14 K-D-A ratio. The Philippines' Jinn Marrey "Palos" Lamatao ended up at 9-5-13.

In the day's other matches:

--Team Yandex def. OG

--MOUZ def. Execration

--OG def. Natus Vincere

--Team Tidebound def. Yakult Brothers

--HEROIC def. Team Tidebound

--HEROIC def. Tearlaments

--Xtreme Gaming def. Team Yandex

--Natus Vincere def. Tearlaments

The group stage concludes Saturday with 12 matches:

--Tundra Esports vs. Team Tidebound

--Xtreme Gaming vs. Yakult Brothers

--Tundra Esports vs. OG

--Team Falcons vs. Tearlaments

--Xtreme Gaming vs. Team Tidebound

--HEROIC vs. OG

--Team Falcons vs. Team Yandex

--MOUZ vs. Tearlaments

--HEROIC vs. Natus Vincere

--Team Yandex vs. Execration

--MOUZ vs. Yakult Brothers

--Natus Vincere vs. Execration

BLAST Slam V group-stage standings

T1. Team Falcons, 8-1

T1. Tundra Esports, 8-1

3. Team Yandex, 6-3

T4. MOUZ, 5-4

T4. OG, 5-4

T6. HEROIC, 4-5

T6. Natus Vincere, 4-5

T6. Team Tidebound, 4-5

T6. Xtreme Gaming, 4-5

10. Execration, 3-6

11. Yakult Brothers, 2-7

12. Tearlaments, 1-8

BLAST Slam V prize pool, with prize money and team earnings

1. $300,000, $100,000

2. $150,000, $50,000

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

5-6. $35,000, $15,000

7-10. $22,500, $6,250

11-12. $10,000, $2,500

--Field Level Media