Only the strongest survived from the loser's bracket to join the group winners on the second day of the ECS Season 3 Finals from the SSE Arena in London on Saturday. FaZe Clan and Astralis emerged victorious to round out the Final Four.

FaZe Clan Topples G2 Esports

After a tough loss to SK Gaming on Day 1, FaZe was looking to fight its way into the playoffs from the lower bracket. But first it had to await the winner of G2 Esports and OpTic Gaming. The wait wasn't very long. G2 Esports decimated OpTic Gaming from start to finish. Despite OpTic's Keith "NAF" Markovic putting up a game-high 106.5 ADR (average damage per round) and 22/10 KD (kills/deaths) in the game, G2 easily came away with a 16-5 victory on Overpass. Switching over to Inferno, things weren't much different as OpTic quite simply looked outclassed in the matchup, falling 16-6 with G2 moving on to the decider match of Group A.

This set up a showdown between the two European juggernauts with a shot at the semifinals on the line. FaZe Clan came out the gate strong, amassing an 8-7 lead at the half. In the second half, Finn "karrigan" Andersen's rifle came alive to secure several round wins for FaZe down the stretch, eventually leading to a 16-10 Game 1 win. In Game 2, FaZe got off to another strong start on Train in the first half, taking several rounds on the T-side while constantly poking holes in the G2 economy. While G2 managed to string a couple rounds together in the second half, FaZe's early 10-5 lead was too much to overcome as FaZe secured the series sweep with a 16-11 win. While G2 was eliminated with the loss, FaZe moves on to face a hot Cloud9 squad on Championship Sunday.

Astralis Squeeze Past Team Liquid

Before Astralis could try its luck at one last shot into the semifinals, Team Liquid and Fnatic had to battle it out. Team Liquid came into today's series against Fnatic as one of the best hopes for NA, putting together a dominant Game 1 showing on Mirage. Liquid took an early 9-2 lead coming out the gate before finishing the first half up 10-5. Liquid was unfazed, however, easily dominating the second half to pick up the 16-6 win on the back of Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski's 28/11 KD and game-high 129.5 ADR.

Fnatic made things mighty interesting in Game 2 when it opened up with five straight wins on the T-side of Train. Liquid stabilized, however, bringing the deficit to just 8-7 at half. Despite the strong end to the first half, Liquid was powerless to stop the onslaught of Fnatic in the second half that saw the Swedes force a Game 3 with a 16-12 win. Fnatic hoped to maintain its momentum on Inferno, but Liquid had yet another blistering early performance in Game 3, taking a 10-5 lead into the second half. There, Liquid picked up the pistol round and held full control of the game afterwards, ending the 16-6 victory on a 6-1 run to knock Fnatic out of the tournament and move on to face Astralis.

That set up a pivotal match between the NA flagbearers and the unflinching Danes, Astralis. Starting off on Train, things didn't look so hot for the North American hopefuls. Even though Liquid won the first two rounds, Astralis went on an incredible 16-2 run -- led by Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz's stellar 23/8 KD -- to easily take the first game. Things looked equally grim at the start of Game 2 on Overpass, with Astralis getting out to a 3-0 start. Liquid quickly bounced back, however, taking a 9-6 lead into the second half. The second half ended up being all Liquid, who went 7-3 in the half to lock up the 16-9 win.

That led to a winner-take-all Game 3 in Inferno. Again, Astralis shot out to a 3-0 lead early on, but this time managed to build on it by extending the lead to 7-4 before Liquid came stomping back to only trail 8-7 at the half, setting up an exciting finish. While Liquid jumped out to a 10-8 lead after three rounds in the second half, Astralis decided to turn on the afterburners, winning eight straight to take the map 16-10. Both dev1ce and dupreeh had incredible 1-vs-2 clutch plays during the run to stave off elimination and punch Astralis' ticket to the semifinals to face SK Gaming.

Sunday's action will get underway with SK Gaming and Astralis facing off in what will surely be a hotly-contested series, and will be followed by Cloud9 taking on FaZe Clan. Championship Sunday kicks off at 7 a.m. ET, and you won't want to miss this one.