(Photo credit: Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

FUT Esports, G2 Esports and Team Spirit collected sweeps in Group A upper-bracket quarterfinal action Saturday at the Intel Extreme Masters Krakow tournament in Poland.

Natus Vincere edged Parivision 2-1 in Saturday's other Group A quarterfinal to join the other three in the semifinals, slated for Sunday.

In Group B play, Team Vitality swept BC Game Esports, and 3DMAX handled FaZe Clan 2-0 in the quarterfinals to advance to Monday's Group B semifinals. The other two upper-bracket quarterfinals will be Sunday.

Saturday's matches launched double-elimination play for 16 teams as they compete in the $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament that started with 24 teams.

The six teams that lost Saturday dropped into lower-bracket action and will need to rally to earn spots in the six-team playoffs that will begin Friday. The champion of the playoff receives $400,000. while the runner-up claims $180,000.

FUT Esports handled FURIA 13-11 on Mirage and 13-6 on Dust II. Dmytro 'dem0n' Myroshnychenko of Ukraine racked 41 kills vs. 30 deaths to pace FUT Esports. Kazakhstan's Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko fared best for FURIA with a 30-30 split.G2 Esports rolled past The MongolZ 13-2 on Dust II and 13-11 on Ancient. Bosnia-Serbia's Nemanja 'hunter-' Kovac, the G2Esports captain, posted a plus-13 kill-death differential while Spain's Alvaro 'SunPayus' Garcia finished plus-10. Mongolia's Usukhbayar '910' Banzragch posted 30 kills vs. 28 deaths for The MongolZ.

Natus Vincere's match with Parivision was the best of the day. After NAVI opened with a 13-11 win on Dust II, Parivision answered with a 19-16 victory on Anubis. Natus Vincere stayed in the winners' bracket by taking Ancient by a 13-5 count. Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy of Ukraine paced Natus Vincere with a plus-10 differential. Russia's Ivan 'zweih' Gogin responded with 63 kills vs. 50 deaths for Parivision.

Team Spirit closed the Group A upper-bracket quarterfinals by sweeping Astralis. Spirit opened with a 16-13 win on Dust II before claiming a 13-8 victory on Overpass. Russi'a Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets dominated with 53 kills against just 28 deaths to pace Team Spirit. Sweden's Love 'phzy' Smidebrant led the way for Astralis with a plus-9 differential.

Team Vitality opened Group B upper-bracket quarterfinal play by bouncing BC Game Esports 13-8 on Dust II and 13-5 on Overpass. Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan of Israel earned the game's best rating (1.65) as he amassed a plus-9 differential for Team Vitality. Oleksandr 's1imple' Kostyliev of Ukraine was plus-1 for BC Game Esports.

Group B's other quarterfinal match on Saturday featured 3DMAX defeating FaZe Clan 13-7 on Inferno and 13-2 on Nuke. All five 3DMAX competitors amassed positive differentials, with France's Filip 'Graviti' Brankovic leading the way with 37 kills vs. 15 deaths.

Sunday's schedule:

Upper Bracket semifinals:

Group A -- FUT Esports vs. G2 Esports

Group A -- Natus Vincere vs. Team Spirit

Lower Bracket quarterfinals:

Group A -- FURIA vs. The MongolZ

Group A -- PARIVISION vs. Astralis

Upper Bracket quarterfinals:

Group B -- MOUZ vs. NRG

Group B -- Aurora Gaming vs. Team Falcons

Intel Extreme Masters Krakow prize pool

1. $400,000

2. $180,000

3. $100,000

4. $60,000

5-6. $40,000

7-8. $24,000

9-12. $16,000

13-16. $10,000

17-20. $4,500 -- GamerLegion, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid, paiN Gaming

21-24. $2,500 -- Passion UA, Legacy, B8, HEROIC

--Field Level Media