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

Team Yandex and Team Falcons won their respective upper-bracket quarterfinal matches, and Team Yandex also won their upper-bracket semifinal on Thursday at the BLAST Slam VII playoffs in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The other upper-bracket semifinal, which will be held on Friday, will feature BetBoom Team and Team Falcons. The winner of that contest will oppose Team Yandex in the upper-bracket final on Saturday.

The $1 million event began with a 12-team group stage last month. Group play was a round-robin, best-of-one format. The top two teams advanced to the upper-bracket semifinals of the playoffs, while the third- and fourth-place teams started in the upper-bracket quarters.

The fifth- and sixth-place teams proceeded to Round 2 of the last-chance qualifier, while teams 7-10 in the standings began in Round 1 of that stage. The bottom two teams were eliminated.

On Thursday in an upper-bracket quarterfinal, Team Yandex swept Aurora Gaming with a 62-minute win on red and a 48-minute victory on green. Alimzhan 'watson' Islambekov of Kazakhstan led Team Yandex with a 28-3-14 kill-death-assist ratio.

Team Falcons also pulled off a sweep, taking out Team Liquid with a pair of victories on green (50 minutes, 38 minutes) in the other upper-bracket quarterfinal. Ammar 'ATF' Al-Assaf of Jordan led Team Falcons with a K-D-A of 23-4-35.

In the upper-bracket semifinals, Team Falcons opened with a 40-minute win on red, before LGD Gaming pulled even with a 37-minute victory on red. In the decisive third map, Team Falcons prevailed in 60 minutes on red to advance. Watson again led the way for Team Falcons, posting a 29-13-24 K-D-A.

The tournament continues with three matches on Friday:

--BetBoom Team vs. Team Falcons (upper-bracket semifinal)

--BetBoom Team/Falcons loser vs. Tundra Esports (lower-bracket quarterfinal)

--LGD Gaming vs. Team Liquid (lower-bracket quarterfinal)

BLAST Slam VII payouts (prize money, team earnings)

1. $300,000, $100,000

2. $150,000, $45,000

3. $70,000, $23,000

4. $50,000, $17,000

5-6. $40,000, $15,000

7-8. $25,000, $10,000 -- Team Spirit, Team Liquid

9-10. $15,000, $5,000 -- OG, Tundra Esports

11-12. $10,000, $2,500 -- Xtreme Gaming, GLYPH

--Field Level Media