Nemiga, Virtus.pro secure WePlay! Clutch Island playoff spots

Nemiga beat Team Spirit 2-1 in the Group A winners' match and VP rallied for a 2-1 win against Gambit Youngsters in the Group B winners' match. Also in Group A, ESPADA defeated Winstrike Team 2-1 in an elimination match.

Nemiga Gaming and Virtus.pro secured upper-bracket playoff berths Wednesday during Stage 3 of the $50,000 WePlay! Clutch Island online event. Nemiga beat Team Spirit 2-1 in the Group A winners' match and VP rallied for a 2-1 win against Gambit Youngsters in the Group B winners' match.

Also in Group A, ESPADA defeated Winstrike Team 2-1 in an elimination match. ESPADA and Spirit will meet in the decider match Thursday. In Wednesday's Group B elimination match, Natus Vincere swept Hard Legion Esports. Na'Vi will take on Gambit Youngsters in a decider match Thursday.

Winstrike and Hard Legion Esports will meet Saturday in a 7th-8th place match. 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 opened with a 16-10 win on Mirage but Spirit answered with a 16-4 victory on Dust II. Nemiga then overcame a 15-9 deficit on Nuke to win 16-14. Igor "lollipop21k" Solodkov led Nemiga with 62 kills and a plus-13 kill-death differential.

Virtus.pro fell behind with a 16-10 loss to Gambit Youngsters on Vertigo before rebounding with a 16-5 win on Dust II and a 16-8 decision on Overpass. Dzhami "Jame" Ali paced VP with 55 kills and a plus-17 differential. 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