The MongolZ and HEROIC completed 2-0 sweeps on Saturday in the semifinals of the Thunderpick World Championship in Berlin.
With the victories, the teams will meet in the tournament’s grand final on Sunday. The winner will take home $500,000, and the runner-up will walk away with $150,000.
After opening a meeting with 3DMAX with a 13-6 win on Anubis, The MongolZ prevailed 13-9 on Ancient. Ayush “mzinho” Batbold of Mongolia had 43 kills and a plus-17 kill-death differential in the victory.
Facing OG, HEROIC took Dust II 13-8 and Ancient 13-11, getting 51 kills against just 26 deaths from Israel’s Guy “NertZ” Iluz.
The $850,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament began on Oct. 21 and wraps up on Sunday.
A series of qualifiers in Europe, North America and South America set the 16-team field for the World Championship. The teams were divided into four groups of four teams. Each group played 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 grand final, which will be best-of-five.
Playoff action concludes Sunday with two matches:
–The MongolZ vs. HEROIC (grand final)
–3DMAX vs. OG (third-place match)
Thunderpick World Championship prize pool
1. $500,000
2. $150,000
3. $70,000
4. $50,000
5-8. $20,000 — BESTIA, Imperial Esports, Fnatic, BIG
9-12. no money — Virtus.pro, Cloud9, Ninjas in Pyjamas, M80
13-16. no money — Team Falcons, 9z Team, Legacy, Aurora Gaming
–Field Level Media