Nigma, Liquid stave off elimination at BLAST Bounty Hunt

Team Nigma and Team Liquid on Thursday swept their respective first-round matches in the lower bracket of the $145,000 BLAST Bounty Hunt Dota 2 online event.BLAST Bounty Hunt Dota 2 prize money through Thursday (active pool, bounty pool): Team Secret -- $28,400, 0 OG -- $28,400, 0 Team Nigma -- $16,200, $5,000 Team Liquid -- $14,040, 0 Alliance -- $12,560 ($,7,560 active, $5,000 bounty) Ninjas in Pyjamas -- $5,400, 0 --Field Level Media

Team Nigma and Team Liquid on Thursday swept their respective first-round matches in the lower bracket of the $145,000 BLAST Bounty Hunt Dota 2 online event. Team Nigma dispatched Ninjas in Pyjamas after recording wins in 39 and 36 minutes, respectively.

Team Liquid eliminated Alliance following victories in 31 and 40 minutes, respectively. The two Thursday winners will face off Friday for a spot in Saturday's lower-bracket final. The Friday loser between Team Secret and OG will play in the lower-bracket final the following day.

The playoffs-only event features six teams, all of whom were invited, with Secret and OG getting byes to the upper-bracket semifinals. All matches are best-of-three until Saturday's best-of-five grand final. Rather than prize money based on finishing position, each team began with an active cash pool: $20,000 each for Secret and OG and $15,000 for the other four teams. Each match winner takes 40 percent of its opponent's active cash pool, meaning OG and Secret each claimed $8,400 from their opponents on Wednesday.

There is also $45,000 available via bounty hunt, with prizes awarded for various accomplishments. Nigma won $5,000 Tuesday for keeping one team member alive for the duration of a game, while Alliance won $5,000 on Tuesday for not allowing Ninjas in Pyjamas to gain control of their outpost for a whole game. Still available are a $20,000 prize for killing a single enemy player 20 times in one game, and a $15,000 prize for killing at least nine of the opponent's couriers in a game. BLAST Bounty Hunt Dota 2 prize money through Thursday (active pool, bounty pool):

Team Secret -- $28,400, 0 OG -- $28,400, 0

Team Nigma -- $16,200, $5,000 Team Liquid -- $14,040, 0

Alliance -- $12,560 ($,7,560 active, $5,000 bounty) Ninjas in Pyjamas -- $5,400, 0