9z and BIG earned the other two spots from the 2-2 pool earlier in the day.
The group stage of XSE Pro League Guangzhou has concluded with 9z, BIG, and FaZe clinching the final spots in the Chinese tournament's single-elimination playoff bracket.
All three series in the 2-2 pool were won by the slimmest of margins, despite the first two ending in two maps. 9z overcame a red-hot Felipe "insani" Yuji in the first match of the day, securing a narrow 13-10 win on Nuke before requiring overtime to close out Mirage after squandering a 9-3 lead.
BIG had to fight back from behind on Inferno against B8, winning two late rounds to force overtime and claim victory before taking over on Ancient. But Benjamin "blameF" Bremer's men almost became victims of the same treatment they gave NRG at the Cologne Major, letting a 12-1 lead slip by giving up 10 rounds in a row before scraping victory in round 24.
FaZe completed a recovery from an early trip to the 0-2 pool in China by defeating EYEBALLERS for the final playoff spot, the very team whose last win over FaZe in BLAST Bounty at the start of the year had signaled the start of the European combine's decline and eventual failure to qualify for the Cologne Major.
EYEBALLERS went 2-0 to start the tournament, and will lament squandering all three opportunities to advance to the bracket stage with consecutive losses to TYLOO, Nemesis, and FaZe.
FaZe's newcomer, Jason "JBOEN" Boe Nielsen, was the team's best player in the group stage, mustering a 1.35 rating over nine maps and being the difference-maker on Mirage to even the series against EYEBALLERS.
The first two maps were tightly contested, with EYEBALLERS clinching Ancient in double overtime after FaZe gave up a 18-15 lead and winning eight rounds straight to come back from 4-11 down on Mirage against a meager FaZe offense. But FaZe got the job done in overtime before taking over on the Cache decider, led by 2.13 and 2.11-rated efforts by Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and David "frozen" Čerňanský.
The quarter-final matchups can be found below, while the complete schedule and bracket can be seen here.