BIG secure direct semi-final spot; Cloud9 eliminate Liquid

Having been invited as a last-minute replacement, BIG clinch their place in the semi-finals of the tournament after defeating FURIA.

In their spot-deciding series, BIG came out on top against FURIA to move on straight to the semi-finals of IEM Dallas as Group B's first-placers. The Germans overcame Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan's squad in three maps, winning Nuke 16-8, dropping Vertigo 10-16, and finally taking Mirage, 16-10.

In the other match, Cloud9 took the final playoff spot on offer in Group B as they ended Liquid's campaign at IEM Dallas in two maps, dominantly winning on Ancient and fending off their North American opponents' efforts at a comeback on Vertigo.

The result also means that there will be no North American teams participating in the main stage of the event,as Complexity also bowed out of the competition without a single win, falling to MIBR and then Ninjas in Pyjamas in the lower bracket.

BIG came out of the gates swinging on Nuke, opening the game with a 5-1 lead over the Brazilians. While FURIA were able to win three of the next four rounds to bring themselves within two, that's when Josef "⁠faveN⁠" Baumann and the rest of his team completely switched on and scored nine out of the next ten to reach map point. FURIA desperately tried to turn the game around, but it was too little, too late as the Germans took the final round they needed and wrapped up Nuke 16-8 behind faveN's server-high 28 kills.

Looking to do what their opponents achieved in the previous map, FURIA went on a tear in the early stages of Vertigo, winning nine out of the first 11 rounds to go up an impressive 9-2 over BIG. Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz's crew recovered from their slow start and closed out the half with four consecutive rounds to reduce their gap to just three entering the switch.

FURIA then secured four out of the first five opening rounds as the attackers, before BIG answered back and reached double-digit rounds themselves. Denying any signs of a comeback, the Brazilians closed out the map 16-10 and forced a decider on Mirage.

The third and final map began with both teams drawing level at 2-2, before BIG started to pull ahead, breaking FURIA's defense wide open and garnering an 11-4 lead after 15 rounds, giving the Brazilians barely any room to breathe all throughout the first half. After swapping sides, FURIA went on a roll and chipped away at their German opponents' lead round after round, bringing them to within three. Ultimately, BIG were able to get the ball rolling and close out Mirage 16-10, earning their direct qualification to the semi-finals.

The elimination series between Cloud9 and Liquid began on the North Americans' map pick of Ancient, a map they have performed well at in the last three months with a 72.7% winrate. Despite Liquid's prior success on the map, the ensuing battle was largely uncompetitive, as Vladislav "⁠nafany⁠" Gorshkov and company steamrolled through the first map in dominant fashion, only dropping five rounds to Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella's squad en route to a 16-5 game and one map away from reaching the IEM Dallas playoffs.

Vertigo kicked off with Cloud9 holding a 3-2 lead over Liquid, who showed some fight in the early stages of the game. Just like the previous map, however, the Russians quickly got to work and soon reached double digits as the scoreline eventually read 10-3 in their favor, with Liquid managing to pull the last two rounds back heading into the break behind Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski's multi-kills.

Liquid experienced a resurgence going into the second period, clawing their way back into the game by taking four out of the first five rounds played, narrowing their deficit to 9-11. Both sides then proceeded to exchange three-round sprees as the scoreline reached 14-12 in the Russians' favor, before Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov and the rest of his team secured the last two rounds they needed to take the series, claim Group B's final playoff spot, and sending Liquid home.