Vitality and MongolZ cruise into BLAST.tv Austin Major semis

A day after the first two spots in the semifinals were secured with reverse sweeps, Team Vitality and The MongolZ made it look easy, earning their spots with sweeps at the BLAST.tv Austin Major on Friday in Texas.

Vitality will face MOUZ in the first semifinal Saturday, followed by MongolZ and paiN Gaming playing in the other semi. The grand final is Sunday.

The $1.25 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event, which began with 32 teams, features three Swiss-system group stages.

Sixteen teams advanced through qualifying events to reach Group Stage 1, where all early-round matches were a single map while advancement and elimination matches were best-of-three.

The top eight teams in Group Stage 1 advanced to Group Stage 2, where eight invited teams awaited: Team Falcons, FaZe Clan, 3DMAX, Virtus.pro, paiN Gaming, FURIA, MIBR and M80.

The same process applied in Group Stage 2, with the top eight squads moving on to Group Stage 3, where eight more invited teams joined the action: Team Vitality, MOUZ, Team Spirit, G2 Esports, MongolZ, Aurora Gaming, Natus Vincere and Team Liquid.

The top eight teams in Group Stage 3 advance to the single-elimination playoffs, with all matches best-of-3, including the grand final.

The winning team will earn $500,000, and the runner-up will pocket $170,000.

Vitality opened the day Friday against Natus Vincere, taking Mirage 13-9 and Nuke 13-11. Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut of France paced the winners with 41 kills and a plus-14 kill-death differential, both match highs. Ukraine's Ihor ‘w0nderful' Zhdanov had a team-high 35 kills and plus-6 K-D differential in defeat.

In the second quarterfinal of the day, MongolZ topped FaZe Clan by the same scores as in the first quarter, winning 13-9 on Mirage and 13-11 on Anubis. Usukhbayar ‘910' Banzragch led the all-Mongolian squad with 40 kills and a plus-15 K-D differential in the win, while Finn ‘karrigan' Andersen of Denmark and American Jonathan ‘EliGE' Jablonowski each posted 32 kills to lead FaZe.

BLAST.tv Austin Major prize pool

1. $500,000 --

2. $170,000 --

3-4. $80,000 --

5-8. $45,000 -- Team Spirit, FURIA, Natus Vincere, FaZe Clan

9-11. $15,000 -- Virtus.pro, Legacy, G2 Esports

12-14. $15,000 -- Aurora Gaming, 3DMAX, Lynn Vision Gaming

15-16. $15,000 -- Team Liquid, Nemiga Gaming

17-19. $10,000 -- B8, MIBR, HEROIC

20-22. $10,000 -- TYLOO, Team Falcons, M80

23-24. $10,000 -- OG, BetBoom Team

25-27. $5,000 -- FlyQuest, NRG, Wildcard

28-30. $5,000 -- Imperial Esports, Chinggis Warriors, Complexity

31-32. $5,000 -- Metizport, Fluxo

--Field Level Media