G2 Esports, 3DMAX and NRG rallied for wins on Wednesday as the Intel Extreme Masters Krakow event got underway in Poland.
The $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began with 24 teams — 16 competing in a double-elimination play-in bracket with eight already seeded straight into the group stage.
Play-in matches are best-of-three, with eight teams advancing.
The next stage will split the remaining teams into two groups of eight for double-elimination play involving best-of-three matches. The group winners earn spots in the playoff semifinals, the group runners-up head to the playoff quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams go to the playoff quarterfinals as low seeds.
The playoffs will feature a single-elimination bracket of best-of-three matches with the exception of the grand final on Feb. 8, which will be best-of-five.
The championship team will receive $400,000, and the runner-up will get $180,000.
On Wednesday, Passion UA opened with a 13-8 win on Overpass before G2 Esports captured Dust II 13-6 and Mirage 13-3. Slovakia’s Matus “MATYS” Simko paced G2 Esports with 43 kills and a 1.42 rating. The United States’ Michael “Grim” Wince led Passion UA with 45 kills and a 1.16 rating.
The day’s tightest match saw FUT Esports begin with a 16-13 overtime win against 3DMAX on Ancient. 3DMAX responded with a 16-13 overtime victory on Anubis, then sealed the series with a 13-5 triumph on Dust II. Pierre “Ex3rcice” Bulinge topped all-French 3DMAX with 59 kills, while Kosovo’s Aulon “Krabeni” Fazlija and Ukraine’s Nikita “cmtry” Samolotov each had 55 kills for FUT Esports.
After B8 claimed Dust II 13-4, NRG took Mirage 13-2 and Inferno 13-11. The United States’ Josh “oSee” Ohm registered 54 kills and a 1.54 rating for NRG. Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi produced 50 kills and a 1.21 rating for all-Ukrainian B8.
In the day’s other opening-round matches, Aurora Gaming swept GamerLegion 2-0, PARIVISION edged HEROIC 2-1, Team Liquid downed Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0, BC.Game Esports beat Legacy 2-0, and Astralis toppled paiN Gaming 2-0.
The upcoming schedule:
Thursday
–Upper-bracket round 2: Aurora Gaming vs. PARIVISON
–Upper-bracket round 2: Team Liquid vs. G2 Esports
–Lower-bracket round 1: Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Passion UA
–Lower-bracket round 1: Legacy vs. FUT Esports
–Lower-bracket round 1: paiN Gaming vs. B8
Friday
–Upper-bracket round 2: BC.Game Esports vs. 3DMAX
–Upper-bracket round 2: Astralis vs. NRG
–Lower-bracket round 1: GamerLegion vs. HEROIC
–Lower-bracket round 2: four matches TBD
Intel Extreme Masters Krakow prize pool
1. $400,000
2. $180,000
3. $100,000
4. $60,000
5-6. $40,000
7-8. $24,000
9-12. $16,000
13-16. $10,000
17-20. $4,500
21-24. $2,500
–Field Level Media
