HEROIC and NIP reach upper final on day two of Stake Ranked, paiN eliminated

The new-look HEROIC grabbed narrow 13-11 wins on Ancient and Dust2 on either side of an overtime loss on Nuke to remain in the upper bracket.

The second day of Stake Ranked Episode 3 concluded with the new-look HEROIC barely staving off Phantom in a tight series to set up an upper bracket final battle against Ninjas in Pyjamas , who eased past Gentle Mates in a two-map series earlier in the day.

paiN were the highest-ranked team in attendance but had suffered a loss to Phantom in their opener, and the Brazilian team's woes continued as they were sent packing from the event by 3DMAX in the lower bracket.

The early exit adds to a troubled run of form for paiN , coming on the heels of a loss to Sharks in the BLAST Open Porto South America qualifier.

The French squad got the job done thanks to a stellar performance by AWPer-turned-rifler Jeremy "⁠Kursy⁠" Gast , who posted a 1.94 rating to lead his team to a dominant victory.

BC Game Masters Championship Season 2 champions Wildcard also had their tournament run come to an early end, finding themselves unable to carry the form they had two months ago into the Spanish event with 0-2 losses to Gentle Mates in their opener and K27 in the lower bracket.

The schedule and matchups for the penultimate day of the event looks as follows: