Images: BetBoom Team, PARIVISION, ESL
The two biggest tournament favourites of ESL One Bangkok 2024 are now headed for a clash in the upper bracket finals.
The Dota 2 ESL One Bangkok 2024 Playoffs kicked off on Thursday (December 12) with the upper bracket semifinals, where 
BetBoom Team and 
PARIVISION advanced to the upper bracket finals after defeating 
Team Falcons and 
AVULUS, respectively.
With their victories, BetBoom and PARIVISION have guaranteed themselves at least a third place finish and $120,000 in winnings. Of course, they have their sights set on becoming the first team to advance to the grand finals where the lion's share of $300,000 will be up for grabs.
Meanwhile, Falcons and AVULUS will have to continue their journey in ESL One Bangkok through the lower bracket, where they will next face the winners of the first set of elimination matches.
Here's how all the action in the opening day of the ESL One Bangkok 2024 Playoffs went down:
BetBoom, PARIVISION advance to upper bracket finals
1-2
BetBoom TeamThe first series of the day opened with Falcons striking first against BetBoom behind 
Oliver “Skiter” Lepko's carry Earthshaker and 
Ammar “ATF” Assaf's Bristleback spearheading a strong midgame timing that gave their team a comfortable 40-minute win. Skiter paced Falcons' 24-14 kill lead in game one with eight kills and 12 assists on two deaths while ATF added six kills and 13 assists on two deaths.
Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko then showed out on Dragon Knight in game two, where he served as a nigh-unstoppable bulwark for BetBoom as they took the lead from the laning stage onward to grind Falcons down after 50 minutes of action. Pure finished with a series-best 19 kills and seven assists against six deaths out of BetBoom's 35-28 kill lead.
The series decider followed a similar script to game two, with BetBoom once again using an early game lead to grind out the win in the late game against a stubborn Falcons squad. While Pure was the star of game two, it was Gleb “kiyotaka” Ziryanov on Queen of Pain that took the spotlight with 17 kills and 10 assists on five deaths. Pure also had eight kills and 12 assists on four deaths as Morphling.
2-1
AVULUSPARIVISION came out swinging to start the second series of the day, as they utterly dominated AVULUS to the tune of a lopsided 25-4 kill lead in 43 minutes of action. 
Remco “Crystallis” Arets on Razor led the way with eight kills on one death. 
Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko on Dragon Knight, Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin on Centaur Warrunner, and Naltakyan “9Class” Edgar on Dark Willow combined for a clean 15 kills while Andrey “Dukalis” Kuropatkin on Ogre Magi had two kills and the team's remaining three deaths.
AVULUS then struck back with their own one-sided 31-minute win in game two, where they took full advantage of a slow draft by PARIVISION that was reliant on Crystallis' Spectre. 
Daniel “Stormstormer” Schoetzau on Puck and 
Marcel “Ekki” Hołowienko on Nyx Assassin had seven kills apiece on two and three deaths, respectively, to fuel AVULUS' 26-10 kill lead. 
Aleksey “Smiling Knight” Sviridov on Monkey King also pitched in with a clean six kills and seven assists.
Game three saw AVULUS taking the lead during the laning stage behind Stormstormer's Viper, but PARIVISION were able to turn things around once Crystallis' carry Bristleback and No[o]ne's mid Magnus got their key items to win the mid game teamfights. AVULUS still had the chance to regain their momentum by winning one big clash with Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev's Enigma, but he was constantly controlled by DM's Beastmaster and rendered effectively useless. DM would go on to record a game-high 11 kills and 15 assists on three deaths to help PARIVISION close out the 2-1 series victory in 42 minutes.
Day two of the ESL One Bangkok 2024 Playoffs will feature three matches in the lower bracket. First up will be the first round of the lower bracket with 
Team Liquid taking on 
Shopify Rebellion and 
Team Spirit facing 
Nigma Galaxy. The day will then close with the first match of the second round of the lower bracket, where Falcons will match up against the winner of the Team Liquid-Shopify Rebellion match.
ESL One Bangkok 2024 will be hosted from December 9 to 15 and is split into two distinct stages: the Group Stage, running from December 9 to 11, and the Playoffs, running from December 13 to 15. The Group Stage will only be broadcasted online, but the Playoffs will be hosted in front of a live audience in Bangkok's Royal Paragon Hall.
For everything you need to know about ESL One Bangkok 2024, check here.
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