Eight teams are duking it out in the PGL Wallachia Season 3 Playoffs for the lion's share of the US$1 million prize pool.
The Dota 2 action is heating up at PGL Wallachia Season 3 as the first day of its Playoffs on Thursday (13 March) saw 
Xtreme Gaming, 
Team Liquid, Team Falcons, and Tundra Esports emerge victorious in the upper bracket quarterfinals to advance to the upper bracket semifinals. Meanwhile, 
Team Tidebound, 
Aurora Gaming, Team Spirit, and Gaimin Gladiators have been knocked down to the lower bracket.
The eight Playoff-qualified teams at PGL Wallachia Season 3 first had to survive the five-day Swiss format Group Stage to make it to this round. The Playoffs will continue until Sunday (16 March), with the tournament's champions walking away with the grand prize of US$300,000 out of the $1 million prize pool.
Here's how all the action in day one of the PGL Wallachia Season 3 Playoffs went down:
Xtreme, Liquid, Falcons, and Tundra advance to upper bracket semifinals
Team Tidebound
0-2
Xtreme Gaming
The Playoffs opened with an all-Chinese affair between Tidebound and Xtreme, an unfortunate circumstance as Chinese Dota seems to have finally hit a resurgence in this tournament. Tidebound made their presence felt in their first tournament outing of the year, but they faltered against Xtreme's new roster featuring some of China's biggest remaining stars.
The series started with a back-and-forth affair, though Xtreme won out after 41 minutes of action behind 
Wang “Ame” Chunyu's Terrorblade and Hongcheng “Xm” Guo's mid Dazzle – with Zixing “XinQ” Zhao also notably pulling out a support Faceless Void pick. Xm paced Xtreme's 25-22 kill lead with nine kills and 11 assists on three deaths while Ame pitched in with six kills and eight assists against two deaths.
While game one was a close bout, game two was an utter rout as Xtreme stomped Tidebound to the tune of a 29-13 kill lead in 38 minutes to secure the 2-0 series sweep. Xm once again led the way by notching 10 kills and 14 assists on just one death as a mid Sniper, with Ame on Ursa adding eight kills and 13 assists on four deaths while Jing “Xxs” Lin finished with a clean four kills and 17 assists as Tidehunter.
2-1
Aurora GamingThe second series of the day saw reigning The International (TI) champions Liquid take on Aurora's newly-formed Eastern European squad, which also had a couple of TI winners in its ranks. Liquid ended up coming back from a 0-1 series deficit and pulled off the 2-1 reverse sweep to become the second team in the upper bracket semifinals.
Aurora drew first blood in the series by absolutely dominating Liquid in 36 minutes behind a flawless 11-kill, nine-assist performance from 
Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko as Phantom Assassin. 
Artem “Lorenof” Melnick also pitched in with seven kills and 12 assists on three deaths as Dragon Knight.
Aurora looked like they were about to sweep the series in game two, but some masterful late game teamfight execution from the side of Liquid allowed them to pull off the 44-minute comeback win and force the series to a decider. 
Michał “Nisha” Jankowski sparked Liquid's comeback with seven kills and 19 assists on four deaths as Ember Spirit. Meanwhile, 
Micke “miCKe” Vu on his signature carry Nature's Prophet, 
Jonáš “SabeRLighT-” Volek on Tidehunter, and Samuel “Boxi” Svahn on a support Muerta all had six kills apiece and combined for 49 assists against 17 total deaths.
The deciding game three saw Aurora seemingly run out of steam while Liquid continued rolling, notably picking the carry Nature's Prophet but giving it to Nisha while miCKe was handed Tiny instead. The reigning TI champions outmaneuvered and outplayed their opponents every step of the way, with Nisha finding kills all across the map to eventually force Aurora to concede after 44 minutes of action. Liquid's superstar mid laner closed out the 2-1 series victory with a match-best 14 kills and 17 assists on two deaths.
0-2
Team FalconsThe third series of the day saw two powerhouse teams in Falcons and Spirit clash, with Spirit seen as clear favourites following a perfect run through the Group Stage, while Falcons barely managed to make it to the Playoffs. Both teams looked far removed from their Group Stage performances, however, as Falcons made short work of Spirit to stay in the upper bracket.
The match started with both teams on relatively even footing following the laning stage, before Falcons broke the game wide open with a massive teamfight win around the 30-minute mark, after which they simply cruised to a 41-minute opening win. 
Oliver “Skiter” Lepko on Lifestealer paced Falcons' 29-10 kill lead with a perfect nine kills and 10 assists.
Game two followed a similar script as both sides were in a tight-knit contest until Falcons won the decisive mid game teamfight win and never looked back, closing out the 2-0 series sweep after 42 minutes of action. Skiter had yet another showstopping performance, this time racking up a whopping 19 kills and nine assists on just one death as Gyrocopter.
Gaimin Gladiators
1-2
Tundra Esports
The day then closed with the latest installment in the heated rivalry between Tundra and Gaimin Gladiators. The Gladiators looked like they could finally get one up over their rivals, but Tundra pulled off the second 2-1 reverse sweep of the day to become the fourth team to advance to the upper bracket semifinals.
The series started with one of the most one-sided games of the year so far, with Gaimin Gladiators making mincemeat out of Tundra in a 34-minute rout. 
Alimzhan “Watson” Islambekov on Ursa and 
Quinn “Quinn” Callahan on Ember Spirit fueled their team's lopsided 45-10 kill lead by racking up 14 kills apiece and combining for 34 assists, with Watson only having one death while Quinn finished with a perfect kill sheet.
Game two then saw both teams go blow-for-blow for the first 30 minutes with neither side giving up too much ground, until Tundra repeatedly got the jump over their opponents in four straight clashes to claim the 41-minute win and force the series to a decider. Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov led the way for Tundra with 12 kills and 15 assists on just one death out of his team's 34-23 kill lead.
The final game of the day started with the Gladiators dominating the laning stage and in pole position to secure victory in the series by the mid game. However, 
Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov's signature Invoker pick utterly dominated in the ensuing clashes to allow Tundra to be the ones claiming the 2-1 series victory instead after a 48-minute bloodbath. Bzm stuffed the stat sheet with 20 kills and 11 assists on five deaths, while Watson on Phantom Assassin notably finished with 17 kills and 11 assists on five deaths in the loss.
With the day's results, Xtreme, Liquid, Falcons, and Tundra have guaranteed themselves at least a Top 6 finish as well as US$60,000 in winnings. The upper bracket semifinals will see Xtreme take on Liquid, and Falcons face off against Tundra for the two spots in the upper bracket finals.
Meanwhile, Tidebound, Aurora, Spirit, and Gaimin Gladiators drop down to the first round of the lower bracket and will have to fight for their tournament lives the rest of the way.
For Dota 2 match results and updates on the go, don't forget to check out our Telegram channel.
