Vitality, G2 eke out wins in Road to Rio - Europe playoffs

Team Vitality and G2 Esports pulled out tight victories Thursday to advance in the lower bracket of the ESL One: Road to Rio - Europe playoffs. Vitality edged Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1, with all three maps going to overtime. G2 edged Team Heretics 2-1, winning the first and third maps by 16-14 scores and dropping the middle map in overtime.

G2 and Vitality will square off Friday in the third round of the lower bracket, just before FaZe Clan and Astralis meet in the upper-bracket final. The G2-Vitality winner will oppose the FaZe-Astralis loser on Saturday in the lower-bracket final. The winner of that match will meet the upper-bracket winner in the grand final on Sunday.

The ESL One: Rio Major, a $2 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event, was originally scheduled to be held May 11-24 in Rio de Janeiro, but it was pushed back to Nov. 9-22 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The regional qualifying events for North America, South America, Oceania and Asia have concluded. Play in the Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States regions runs through Sunday.

The teams are competing for a total of $255,000 in the online tournaments, as well as for Regional Major Ranking points to be applied toward berths at the ESL One: Rio Major. The European event began with 16 teams divided into two groups for round-robin play consisting of best-of-three matches. The top two finishers from each group advanced to the upper bracket of a double-elimination playoff, with the third- and fourth-place finishers advancing to the lower bracket.

All playoff matches are best-of-three prior to the grand final. The title match will be best-of-five, with the team emerging from the upper bracket starting with a one-map advantage. The European champion will receive 500 Pro Tour points and 1,600 Regional Major Rankings points, plus $33,000 of the $115,000 prize pool. The runner-up will get 350 Pro Tour points, 1,500 RMR points and $21,500.

On Thursday, Vitality opened with a 19-16 overtime win on Mirage before NiP drew level with a 19-15 decision on Overpass. Vitality led the decisive third map, Inferno, 10-5 at halftime but wound up needing overtime to pull out a 19-17 decision. G2 claimed Nuke 16-14 and led 12-4 on Dust II before Heretics mounted a comeback, taking the second map 19-16 in overtime. G2 fell behind 10-5 on Mirage but rallied for a 16-14 victory.

NiP and Heretics will square off in the fifth-place match on Sunday. The seventh-place match between GODSENT and North is scheduled for Saturday. ESL One: Road to Rio - Europe prize pool, with prize money and Regional Major Ranking points:

1. $33,000, 1,600 points 2. $21,500, 1,500 points

3. $14,000, 1,400 points 4. $10,000, 1,300 points

5. $7,500, 1,200 points 6. $6,500, 1,100 points

7. $6,000, 1,000 points 8. $5,000, 900 points

9. $3,250, 800 points -- ENCE 10. $2,500, 700 points -- Copenhagen Flames

11. $2,250, 600 points -- Movistar Riders 12. $1,500, 500 points -- Fnatic

13-14. $1,000, 350 points -- Complexity Gaming, mousesports 15-16. no prize money, 150 points -- c0ntact Gaming, Dignitas

--Field Level Media

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