Fragadelphia 17 reaches playoffs

Apeks, TeamOne, and both of Evil Geniuses' squads are in the playoffs.

The Fragadelphia 17 group stage has drawn to a close, giving way to the playoffs where eight teams are set to battle it out for both the trophy and the lion's share of the $100,000 prize pool.

The tournament in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, kicked off on Thursday with the Last Chance Qualifier. A handful of international squads, such as Apeks and TeamOne, fought their way past the domestic competition in that stage, eventually securing group stage berths.

Apeks are still in the title run after a rocky start in the USA

The group stage split sixteen teams into four, equally-sized groups, with the teams coming into play from two different stages. The first eight, who made their way through the aforementioned Last Chance Qualifier, joined the likes of Squirtle Squad and ATK, who received direct invites to the main event thanks to their prior placings in previous Fragadelphia tournaments and their affiliated ESEA Cash Cups.

Unsurprisingly, the bigger names of the grassroots event made light work of their North American counterparts to secure their respective playoff appearances; the favourites all moving through the group stage, as BIG Academy, TeamOne, ATK, and EG White all finished at the top of their groups.

The biggest anomaly to this was Apeks, led by Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk, who had to get their revenge over Squirtle Squad in Group B to clinch a spot in the playoffs after suffering a shock 0-2 opening-round defeat.

The Fragadelphia 17 quarter-finals will begin on Sunday at 16:00 , with the following matchups:

16:00 BIG Academy vs. Electrify Steel
16:00 Apeks vs. ATK
19:00 TeamOne vs. EG Black
19:00 EG White vs. Iron Blood

For exclusive content and interviews, alongside more in-depth coverage, Dust2.us is running updates and reporting live from Philadelphia.