Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere, MOUZ move to semis at Esports World Cup

Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere and MOUZ claimed the final three spots in the semifinals on Friday in the playoffs of the $1 million CS:GO tournament at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Natus Vincere swept FaZe Clan in two maps and advanced to Saturday's match with MOUZ, who knocked off FURAI Esports in three maps.

Virtus.pro stayed alive with a 2-1 win over Team Vitality in the other quarterfinal. On Saturday, Virtus.pro will meet G2 Esports, who advanced to the semifinals with a win on Thursday.

Saturday's winners will meet in the tournament's grand final on Sunday.

Natus Vincere won a pair of close maps in its sweep. They claimed Mirage 13-10 and Nuke 16-12 in overtime.

Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy of Ukraine had 46 kills and a plus-12 kills/deaths differential, while teammate and countryman Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov also finished at plus-12. FaZe was led by Finn "karrigan" Andersen of Denmark with 37 kills, while David "frozen" Cernansky of Slovakia was their only player with a positive differential (plus-1).

MOUZ and FURIA traded map wins to start their match. MOUZ won 13-7 on Nuke, but FURIA eked out a 13-11 victory on Mirage. On the deciding map, Inferno, MOUZ built a 12-4 lead and won 13-7.

Jimi "Jimpphat" Salo dominated for the winners, finishing with 62 kills and a plus-33 differential. Yuri "yuurih" Santos and Felipe "skullz" Medeiros led FURIA with 39 kills apiece for the all-Brazilian lineup, but no players had a positive differential.

Vitality got the jump on Virtus.pro, winning the first map, Mirage, 22-20 in overtime. But Virtus.pro responded with consecutive victories on Inferno (13-7) and Dust II (13-5) to advance.

Dzhami "Jame" Ali led the winning all-Russian lineup with 67 kills and a plus-29 differential. Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut of France racked up 70 kills and posted a plus-9 differential.

The tournament continues Saturday with two semifinal matches:

--Virtus.pro vs. G2 Esports

--Natus Vincere vs. MOUZ

Esports World Cup CS:GO $1 million prize pool (money, club points)

1. $400,000, 1,000 points

2. $175,000, 600

3-4. $85,000, 275

5-8. $40,000, 60 -- Team Vitality, Team Spirit, FaZe Clan, FURIA Esports

9. $25,000, no points -- The MongolZ

10-11. $15,000, no points -- Sashi Esport, M80

12-15. $10,000, no points -- JiJieHao, FlyQuest, MIBR, Complexity Gaming

--Field Level Media