Gambit Esports and BIG won their matches on Friday to advance to the upper bracket final of the $250,000 Funspark ULTI 2021 event.
Gambit Esports secured a 2-1 win over Entropiq, while BIG toppled K23 by the same score.
Funspark ULTI is a double-elimination, eight-team Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament that runs through Monday. All matches are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final. The upper bracket side will start with a 1-0 lead in the finale. The champion earns $150,000 and one of two Funspark ULTI 2022 berths.
Gambit Esports sandwiched a 16-5 win on Dust II and 16-6 victory on Overpass around a 16-14 setback on Mirage. Abay “HObbit” Khasenov of Kazakhstan recorded 67 kills and Russian Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov had a plus-28 kills-to-death differential for Gambit Esports.
BIG sandwiched a 16-6 triumph on Dust II and 16-4 win on Overpass with a 16-12 setback on Mirage. Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz led the all-German team with 61 kills and a plus-21 kills-to-death differential.
K23 and Entropiq were shuffled to the second round of the lower bracket following their respective losses.
The online action continues Saturday with two lower bracket second-round matches:
Entropiq vs. Astralis
K23 vs. ECSTATIC
Funspark ULTI 2021 prize pool:
1. $150,000 — TBD
2. $50,000 — TBD
3. $15,000 — TBD
4. $15,000 — TBD
5-6. $5,000 — TBD
7-8. $5,000 — Complexity Gaming, Fnatic
–Field Level Media