The best-of-three quarterfinal matchups in the StarSeries Season 3 finals in Kiev, Ukraine, kicked off Saturday as the remaining eight teams battled for a place in the semifinals. Here's how Day 5 went down.
FaZe Clan and G2 started the action in a close series with a thrilling third map victory for FaZe Clan over the G2 squad that dominated the group stages. The series began on G2's map pick, Inferno, where FaZe actually started off strong in the first half for a 9-6 lead at the half. The second half was all FaZe Clan as the team won seven out of the eight rounds played for a 16-7 win on Inferno. Switching to Nuke for Game 2, FaZe took control of Nuke early, but G2 bounced back and shut down FaZe continuously in the remainder of the 9-6 half. FaZe and G2 went back and forth early in the second half before G2 finally broke ahead to take the map 16-11 and force Game 3.
G2 forced the third map on Train where FaZe took the early lead on the offense, ripping apart the defense of G2 for a 4-0 lead. While G2 tried to battle back a bit, FaZe was too strong and took a 10-5 lead into the half. The second half was more of the same, as FaZe rolled right on to take the map 16-10 and move on to the semifinals.
HellRaisers and North battled in another intense series that saw HellRaisers pull off the incredible upset. The series started on Cobblestone where HellRaisers picked up a quick 3-0 lead on the defense, however, North's offense broke the pressure of the defense for a 10-5 lead at the half. Despite HellRaisers winning the first few rounds in the second half, North broke the economy of HellRaisers to bounce back for a 16-9 Map 1 win. Game 2 was on Cache and saw HellRaisers take a quick 5-0 lead holding off the offense of North before North once again fought back to an 8-7 halftime deficit. Although North kept punishing the B-bombsite winning round after round for a tight first-half run, but came up short of a first half lead, down 8-7. The second half was once again tightly contested, with the teams going back and forth before HellRaisers came out on top with a 16-14 win to force a Game 3.
The third and final map for both teams came down on Overpass where North has had some recent success. HellRaisers remained consistent, winning their fifth pistol in a row as they took a 3-0 lead that transacted into a 9-6 halftime lead. HellRaisers grabbed yet another pistol and three more rounds to shut down the Danish offense, though the Danes came back to string together a few rounds. However, North came up short of a Map 3 win as HellRaisers secured their first semifinal ticket at a big event with the 16-11 win.
Fnatic aimed for revenge over Natus Vincere in the next quarterfinal series of the day. The series started on Overpass, where Fnatic took the early lead 3-0 on the offense. Natus Vincere then won three straight, and that allowed Natus to roll right along to a 10-5 lead over Fnatic at the half. The Swedes won one round in the second half as Natus Vincere secured the Map 1 win hammering the Swedes 16-6. Fnatic aimed to get back at Natus Vincere in Map 2 of Inferno and it did just that. Fnatic completely flipped the script and picked up a lopsided win of its own in this game to take a 16-7 win that forced the third straight Game 3 on the day.
The final map in the series, Mirage, started off well enough for Fnatic as it managed to play Na'Vi close for a 4-4 tie after eight rounds. From then on, Na'Vi dominated with a 12-4 run to take push for the big win that puts it in the semifinals.
Counter Logic Gaming and the Danes of Astralis closed out the day with the last best-of-three match starting on Cache. CLG got out to a quick lead on the defense with a 3-0 lead before Astralis stringed together a couple of rounds but it was the North Americans to take the score 6-2. Astralis finally found the hole in the defense to rack up three rounds to lighten the deficit just by one, though the North Americans take the first half 9-6. The second half was all Astralis as the Danes closed out Game 1 with a strong showing on the defense.
CLG looked to stay alive in the series on Mirage, but Astralis continued to perform well in gun rounds. CLG took the first three rounds, but a huge quad kill from Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth put Astralis back in the game. Big performances from members on both sides made things as even as they could get with an 8-7 lead in favor of CLG. Although Astralis initially struggled to string together round wins in the second half, Xyp9x continued to play well, picking up entry frags as Astralis jumped ahead late. CLG looked to stay alive with round wins, but Xyp9x's 26/15 KD was too much to overcome as Astralis secured the 2-0 sweep with a 16-13 win.
The final day with kick off Sunday at 5 a.m. ET with the two semifinal series of FaZe Clan versus HellRaisers and Na'Vi versus Astralis. Those series will be closely followed by the grand finals where one team will take home the $125,000 grand prize.