Liquid, 100 Thieves and SINNERS reach the EWC open qualifier playoffs

Sixteen teams advanced to the playoffs of the Esports World Cup open qualifier in Paris on Saturday, as the winners and decider matches of the Counter-Strike 2 event’s group stage were played out across two rounds.

Eight teams came through the winners matches from Groups 9-16, HLTV reports, with Team Liquid and 100 Thieves both reaching the next stage without dropping a map. Eternal Fire took an unusual route: after an upset defeat to NADE on Friday, a forfeit from SadFamous sent them straight to their decider match, where they beat NADE to secure a place.

Upsets in the decider round

The round's biggest result belonged to Kristjan "fejtZ" Allsaar's Prestige, who eliminated Metizport in a three-map series to book a spot in Sunday's single-elimination bracket. Metizport were the most notable name to exit at that stage.

SINNERS recovered from a 13-0 loss to K27 in their winners match to beat Dark Tigre 2-0, while JiJieHao came through a close series against the new Sangal roster. OG, sent to the deciders by a 2-1 defeat to Echo, advanced with a straightforward win over Vael, and Phantom beat levelONE to close out that batch of groups. Sashi were also among the teams through.

One of the tighter matches of the earlier round saw EYEBALLERS survive against Phantom. The Swedish side lost Ancient 17-19 in double overtime to Nico "nicoodoz" Tamjidi and company, then took Anubis to complete the comeback.

Teams named by HLTV as through to the playoffs after the two rounds:

• Team Liquid and 100 Thieves, both without dropping a map
• Eternal Fire, via a forfeit and a rematch win over NADE
• Echo and EYEBALLERS from the winners matches
• Prestige, SINNERS, JiJieHao, OG, Phantom and Sashi from the deciders

HLTV described the field as a large one and reported that most of the favourites in the winners round lived up to expectations, leaving the upsets concentrated in the decider matches that followed.

Decider games from Groups 1-8 are still to be played, with Fluxo, SAW and 1win among the teams looking to claim the remaining places. The single-elimination playoff bracket follows on Sunday.