Sports
3DMAX first team into Thunderpick World Championship quarters
Aem Sxsw Emls Cup 16
3DMAX swept through its two matches on Monday and became the first team to advance to the quarterfinals of the Thunderpick World Championship in Berlin.
After beating Team Falcons 13-10 on Anubis and 13-9 on Nuke, 3DMAX took down OG in the Group A winners match 13-10 on Ancient and 13-11 on Inferno.
The $850,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began Monday and runs through Nov. 3.
A series of qualifiers in Europe, North America and South America set the 16-team field for the World Championship. The teams are divided into four groups of four teams. Each group plays a double-elimination tournament (best-of-three format), with the group winner advancing to the quarterfinals and the second- and third-place teams playing a decider match for the group’s other spot in the quarterfinals.
The single-elimination playoffs are best-of-three except for the final, which will be best-of-five. The championship team will take home $500,000, while the runner-up will get $150,000.
The all-French 3DMAX squad got a balanced effort in both matches, with Pierre “Ex3rcice” Bulinge (74 kills, plus-15 kill-death ratio) and Lucas “Lucky” Chastang (73 kills, plus-21) leading the way.
In the other first-round Group A match, OG used a reverse sweep to send Virtus.pro to the elimination match, winning 13-11 on Ancient and 13-5 on Anubis after dropping Dust II 13-10 in the opening map. Christian “Buzz” Andersen of Denmark had a match-high 58 kills in the win.
In the elimination match, Virtus made short work of Falcons, winning 13-9 on Mirage and 13-8 on Anubis. Evgenii “FL1T” Lebedev led the all-Russian Virtus.pro team with 40 kills and a plus-16 K-D differential.
While 3DMAX advances to the quarters, Virtus will face OG in the Group A decider match on Friday.
Thunderpick World Championship upcoming group play schedule
Group B — Tuesday
The MongolZ vs. Cloud9
9z Team vs. Fnatic
Group C — Wednesday
HEROIC vs. Legacy
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Imperial Esports
Group D — Thursday
Aurora Gaming vs. BIG
M80 vs. BESTIA
Thunderpick World Championship prize pool
1. $500,000
2. $150,000
3. $70,000
4. $50,000
5-8. $20,000
9-12. no money
13-16. no money — Team Falcons, three other teams TBD
–Field Level Media