Astralis and FaZe earn the first playoff spots in day one of IEM Chicago

It was a busy day in Chicago on Tuesday as 16 teams from around the world began their journey through IEM Chicago.

CS:GO competition ended late last night with Astralis and FaZe Clan taking the first two playoff spots at IEM Chicago. Both Astralis and FaZe will get the day off tomorrow, before facing off on Thursday Nov. 8 for a slot in the semifinals this weekend.

Related: What to look forward to at IEM Chicago

Astralis absolutely demolished in their games yesterday against MVP PK and North. After a swift win vs. MVP, they faced off against their Danish counterparts on two of their strongest maps, Inferno and Nuke. Without breaking a sweat, Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen topped the server in both games at 21 kills per map. His teammate, Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth, also pulled off a cheeky one-on-five ninja defuse in the final round of Nuke to end the series 2-0 in his team’s favor.

FaZe, on the other hand, had a much more difficult day in their matches vs. Team LDLC and MIBR. After narrowly stopping a comeback in round 30 against the French in their opening match, FaZe went on to play MIBR. Both sides traded the others’ map picks despite FaZe’s struggles throughout, and Train was the decider after 60 rounds of back and forth Counter-Strike. MIBR started off strong on their Train CT side, but they faltered entirely after the half, allowing FaZe to come back from 3-10 to 16-11 in the series conclusion.

Group A

Initial Matches

• Astralis won Nuke 16-8 vs. MVP PK
• North won Cache 16-10 vs. NRG Esports
• FaZe Clan won Mirage 16-14 vs. Team LDLC
• MIBR won Inferno 16-12 vs. Renegades

Winners’ Matches

Astralis vs. North

• Astralis won Inferno 16-5
• Astralis won Nuke 16-4

FaZe Clan vs. MIBR

• FaZe won Cache 16-14
• MIBR won Mirage 16-14
• FaZe won Train 16-11

Losers’ Matches

NRG Esports vs. MVP PK

• MVP PK won Dust II 16-11
• NRG won Train 16-9
• NRG won Inferno 16-8

Renegades vs. Team LDLC

• Renegades won Overpass 16-12
• LDLC won Cache 16-14
• LDLC won Mirage 16-2

Group B

Initial Matches

• eUnited won Mirage 16-6 vs. Natus Vincere
• Fnatic won Cache 16-9 vs. BIG
• Team Liquid won Cache 16-11 vs. Luminosity Gaming
• Mousesports won Train 16-5 vs. AVANGAR

IEM Chicago will continue tomorrow at 12pm CT with two elimination matches—one being Luminosity vs. AVANGAR and another being Na’Vi vs. BIG. Later in the day, eUnited, Fnatic, Liquid, and Mouz will be fighting for two more spots in the playoff bracket this weekend.