Nemiga keep rolling at WePlay! Clutch Island

The winners and losers will meet each other Wednesday, with the winners playing to secure the group's top spot and a playoff appearance, and the losers looking to avoid elimination. In Group B, Gambit Youngsters survived Natus Vincere in a 2-1 result, and Virtus.pro took down Hard Legion Esports by the same margin.

Nemiga Gaming continued their strong run with another victory on Tuesday as Stage 3 of the $50,000 WePlay! Clutch Island online event kicked off. Nemiga swept Winstrike Team 2-0 in Group A, and Team Spirit did the same to ESPADA. The winners and losers will meet each other Wednesday, with the winners playing to secure the group's top spot and a playoff appearance, and the losers looking to avoid elimination.

In Group B, Gambit Youngsters survived Natus Vincere in a 2-1 result, and Virtus.pro took down Hard Legion Esports by the same margin. Gambit and Virtus.pro will meet Wednesday for the Group B title, after Na'Vi and Hard Legion fight to avoid elimination. The event began last week with 13 teams, five of which -- Hard Legion, Spirit, Virtus.pro, Winstrike and Na'Vi -- headed straight to Stage 3. Nemiga, ESPADA and Gambit emerged from the first two stages to join them for Stage 3, which features eight teams split into two groups playing in double-elimination brackets.

Two teams from each group will reach the double-elimination playoffs. All matches throughout the tournament are best-of-three, with the champion claiming $15,000 and 2,000 Regional Major Rankings points. Nemiga cruised by Winstrike in their opening match Tuesday, leading 8-1 on the first map (Vertigo) and 9-2 on the second (Mirage). They closed out both maps, 16-7 and 16-6, respectively, with Russia's Anton "speed4k" Titov (plus-22) and Belarus' Igor "lollipop21k" Solodkov (plus-20) each posting a kill-death differential of plus-20 or better.

Spirit rallied from an 8-1 deficit on Nuke to win the map 16-13 against ESPADA, then took Mirage 16-11 for the sweep. Russia's Artem "iDISBALANCE" Egorov led the way with a plus-15 differential. Gambit Youngsters overcame an 11-6 deficit to win 19-17 in overtime on Overpass, but Na'Vi used their own rally -- after trailing 7-0 -- to win Train 16-12 and even the match. In the deciding map (Dust II), Gambit Youngsters grabbed a 10-5 lead by halftime and finished it at 16-11.

Russia's Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov (plus-25) led four players with a positive differential for Gambit. Hard Legion jumped on Virtus.pro early, taking an 8-1 edge on Dust II, but Virtus.pro won the final eight rounds for a 16-10 victory. After Hard Legion took Overpass 16-11, they fell behind 14-6 on Inferno, and their rally fell short as it ended 16-14.

Russia's Igor "Forester" Bezotecheskiy had a match-best plus-13 differential for Hard Legion, but none of his teammates finished better than minus-4. Latvia's Mareks "YEKINDAR" Galinskis paced Virtus.pro with 64 kills and a plus-12 differential. Wednesday's matches:

Group A Elimination: ESPADA vs. Winstrike Team

Winners: Team Spirit vs. Nemiga Gaming Group B

Elimination: Natus Vincere vs. Hard Legion Esports Winners: Gambit Youngsters vs. Virtus.pro

WePlay! Clutch Island prize pool ($USD, Regional Major Ranking points): 1. $15,000, 2,000

2. $10,000, 1,875 3. $6,000, 1,750

4. $5,000, 1,625 5. $4,500, 1,500

6. $3,500, 1,375 7. $3,000, 1,250

8. $3,000, 1,125 9. 0, 1,000 -- forZe

10. 0, 875 11. 0, 0

12-13. 0, 0 -- Moscow Five Academy, CR4ZY --Field Level Media