Xtreme Gaming barely survive twice in ESL One Birmingham

Xtreme Gaming rallied for a pair of lower-bracket victories on Friday to extend their stay at the ESL One Birmingham event in England.

After overtaking MOUZ 2-1 in the lower-bracket first round, Xtreme performed the same escape act while defeating Team Spirit 2-1 in the lower-bracket quarterfinals.

The day's only other match was another lower-bracket first-round clash that saw PARIVISION sweep Team Falcons 2-0.

The $1 million Dota 2 tournament, featuring 16 teams, will award $750,000 in prize money and $250,000 in club rewards as well as 35,460 ESL Pro Tour points spread among all participants.

The competition, part of DreamHack Birmingham, began with a group stage, with teams split into two groups of eight. The top two teams from each group advanced to the upper bracket of the playoffs. The third- and fourth-place teams were delegated to the lower-bracket playoffs, with the remaining eight teams eliminated.

The playoffs continue through Sunday with a double-elimination bracket. All matches are best-of-three except for the grand final, which is best-of-five.

On Friday, MOUZ opened with a 33-minute victory on red before Xtreme Gaming took the next two maps in 42 minutes and 47 minutes, both on green. China's Wang "Ame" Chunyu posted a 29-7-31 kill-death-assist ratio for Xtreme Gaming. Malaysia's Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng logged a 27-16-31 K-D-A ratio for MOUZ.

After Team Spirit posted a 42-minute win on red, Xtreme Gaming rallied for two wins on green, in 42 minutes and a marathon 73 minutes. Malaysia's Cheng "NothingToSay" Jin Xiang wound up at 27-11-43 for Xtreme Gaming. Ukraine's Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk finished at 19-12-25 for Team Spirit.

PARIVISION toppled Team Falcons in 35 minutes on green and 32 minutes on red. Ukraine's Volodymyr "No[o]ne-" Minenko registered a 23-3-25 K-D-A ratio for PARIVISION. Russia's Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak recorded an 8-12-4 K-D-A ratio for Team Falcons.

The Saturday schedule:

--Upper-bracket final -- Team Yandez vs. Tundra Esports

--Lower-bracket quarterfinal -- Aurora Gaming vs. PARIVISION

--Lower-bracket semifinal -- Xtreme Gaming vs. Aurora Gaming/PARIVISION winner

ESL One Birmingham prize pool (prize money, club reward)

1. $250,000, $40,000

2. $100,000, $30,000

3. $80,000, $25,000

4. $60,000, $20,000

5-6. $40,000, $15,000 -- Team Spirit, one team TBD

7-8. $27,500, $12,500 -- MOUZ, Team Falcons

9-10. $20,000, $10,000 -- GamerLegion, Virtus.pro

11-12. $17,500, $10,000 -- BetBoom Team, paiN Gaming

13-14. $15,000, $10,000 -- Yakult Brothers, OG

15-16. $10,000, $10,000 -- REKONIX, Nigma Galaxy

--Field Level Media