(Photo credit: Shawn Dowd/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Team Falcons and FURIA earned byes to the semifinals with group-stage victories on Wednesday at the $300,000 Intel Extreme Masters Rio event in Brazil.

MOUZ, Team Spirit, Team Vitality and Natus Vincere also made the quarterfinals on Friday in Rio de Janeiro.

Sixteen Counter-Strike 2 teams are competing in this week's competition for a top prize of $125,000.

The double-elimination group stage began with two groups of eight teams, with all matches best-of-three. The group winners advanced to the playoff semifinals, with the group runners-up entering the quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams entering the quarterfinals as low seeds.

The single-elimination playoffs start Friday with all matches best-of-three until Sunday's best-of-five grand final.

Team Falcons edged Team Vitality 2-1 in the Group A upper-bracket final on Wednesday. Falcons won 13-10 on Mirage, then Vitality drew even with a 13-6 decision on Dust II before the Falcons took the match with a 16-14 victory on Nuke. Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov of Russia was the player of the match, pacing the Falcons with a 59-45 kill-death differential.

Team Spirit topped RED Canids 2-1 in one Group A lower-bracket semifinal. After Canids opened with a 13-8 win on Mirage, Spirit rallied with a 13-8 victory on Ancient and a 13-2 rout on Overpass to take the match. Russia's Danil 'donk' Krushkovets was player of the match, leading Spirit with a 55-38 K-D differential.

In the other Group A lower-bracket semifinal, G2 Esports swept 3DMAX 2-0, winning 13-6 on Inferno and 13-1 on Dust II. Spain's Alvaro 'SunPayus' Garcia was the player of the match with a 27-12 K-D differential, and teammate Matus 'MATYS' Simko of Slovakia had a 36-17 K-D.

Team Spirit then knocked out G2 Esports 2-0 in the lower-bracket final to qualify for the playoff stage, winning 13-7 on Mirage and 13-11 on Dust II. Andrey 'tN1R' Tatarinovich of Belarus paced Spirit with a 39-30 K-D differential.

FURIA had little problem with MOUZ, winning 2-0 in the Group B upper-bracket final. FURIA triumphed 13-5 on Mirage and 13-9 on Dust II. Kazakhstan's Danil 'molodoy' Golubenko, the player of the match, led the way for FURIA with a 33-16 K-D differential.

The all-Turkish Aurora Gaming swept B8 2-0 in the Group B lower-bracket semifinals, winning 13-7 on Mirage and 13-6 on Overpass. Ismailcan 'XANDARES' Dortkardes, the player of the match, led Aurora with a 44-19 K-D differential.

Natus Vincere swept HOTU in the other lower-bracket semifinal, winning 13-7 on Dust II and 13-9 on Ancient. Kosovo's Drin 'makazze' Shaqiri was the player of the match with a 40-24 K-D differential for the winning side.

Natus Vincere then eliminated Aurora Gaming 2-1 to qualify for the playoffs. NAVI won 13-4 on Inferno, lost 13-11 on Mirage and won 13-4 on Dust II. Shaqiri again was the player of the match with a 50-38 K-D differential.

MOUZ and Team Spirit meet in one quarterfinal on Friday, with the winner facing Team Falcons in the semifinals on Saturday. Team Vitality and Natus Vincere battle on Friday, with the winner advancing to the semifinals against FURIA.

IEM Rio prize pool:

1. $125,000

2. $50,000

3. $30,000

4. $20,000

5-6. $12,500

7-8. $7,000 -- G2 Esports, Aurora Gaming

9-12. $5,000 -- RED Canids, 3DMAX, B8, HOTU

13-16. $4,000 -- Gentle Mates, Team Liquid, Passion UA, Legacy

--Field Level Media