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
