Counter-Strike 2

PGL Cluj-Napoca has reached the playoffs following the conclusion of the all-best-of-three Swiss group stage, where The MongolZ and FaZe went undefeated with 3-0 records to head into the BT Arena as the top seeds.

Seven of the eight highest-ranked teams on HLTV's ranking advanced to the playoffs, with Virtus.pro being the only one to miss out after losing to MOUZ in the final group stage matchup.

The outlier spot instead went to dead team walking SAW, who started the tournament down 0-2 with losses to FaZe and Astralis before going on a Cinderella run past FlyQuest, Complexity, and 3DMAX — the ninth-highest-ranked team in the tournament — to earn Ricardo "⁠roman⁠" Oliveira and José "⁠Shr⁠" Gil a proper send-off in front of a crowd.

For their efforts, the Portuguese outfit received a rematch against FaZe, while the other tournament favorite, The MongolZ, will face a struggling Astralis on the opposite side of the bracket.

Eternal Fire will look to shed off the nerves they showed in the Spodek at IEM Katowice and make a deeper playoff run in Cluj, with Falcons looking for revenge after the Turks decisively beat them in the Polish tournament's group stage.

Rodrigo "⁠biguzera⁠" Bittencourt's paiN will play its first Big Event playoffs match against MOUZ, who have leveled up throughout the tournament with Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi but will face adversity with Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin fresh to in-game leading going up against the Brazilian captain.

The losers of the semi-finals will face off in a third-place decider on Sunday, with stakes raised due to prize money and VRS points being on the line, before the best-of-five grand final plays out to crown a champion.