Invictus stay alive at ESL One Birmingham - China

Invictus Gaming swept CDEC Gaming on Friday to advance to the lower-bracket final at the ESL One Birmingham Online tournament's China event. Invictus took the first game in just under 40 minutes and completed the sweep by winning the deciding game in 33 minutes to send CDEC Gaming home in fourth place with $5,000 from the prize pool.

IG will face Royal Never Give Up in Saturday's best-of-three lower-bracket final, with the winner taking on PSG.LGD in Sunday's best-of-five grand final. ESL One Birmingham, a $300,000 Dota 2 major, had been scheduled for May 26-31 in Birmingham, England, before plans were changed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The tournament was separated into four online regional competitions: Europe/Commonwealth of Independent States, North America/South America, China and Southeast Asia.

The Southeast Asia event (six teams, $40,000 prize pool) is already complete. The other three divisions will conclude Sunday, with Europe/CIS (16 teams, $200,000) and the Americas (six teams, $40,000) also underway. The $55,000 China event began with two groups of four playing a single round robin of best-of-three matches. All playoff matches are best-of-three until the final.

Prize pool: 1. $20,000

2. $12,000 3. $8,000

4. $5,000 -- CDEC Gaming 5-6. $3,000 each -- Team Aster, EHOME

7-8. $2,000 each -- Longinus, Sparking Arrow Gaming