The group stage for the DFRAG Open Series 6 has wrapped on Friday, August 7, and as expected, our four favourites for the title will appear on Monday for their playoff openers — but it was nearly lights out for one of them early.
Rooster and Ground Zero cruised through to the Open Series 6 playoffs in their respective groups. The Chooks recorded their first 13-0 of the year in their Group A opener 2-0 (13-4, 13-0) against Finishers, before taking down FURY 2-0 (13-9, 13-9) in a much closer affair.
FURY stunned HyperX Intel Nationals top-four squad Mindfreak 2-1 (13-7, 8-13, 11-13) in their opener, and after dropping Nuke to even the series in the eliminator against Finishers, we were mere rounds away from having MF miss the playoffs.
But the squad rallied for an overtime win on Inferno 16-13 behind Phoebe "phoebe" Winter (21-18, 1.31) and MF newcomer Ethan "lawlkay" Mistica (24-20, 1.28) to keep their lower bracket run alive.
They'd go on to complete the run with FURY unable to capitalise on the plus-matchup; Chris "vanilla" Swart's heroics weren't enough to stop MF storming home 2-0 (13-8, 13-9).
In Group B, Ground Zero took top seed with two very lopsided series; new-look Time Waves threatened a boilover, but dropped the opening map in double overtime 19-17 and ultimately folded on Nuke 13-3.
Jared "HaZR" O'Bree (18-6, 2.63) recorded his fifth-highest all-time rating in the winners match in their 13-0 of Abyssal's Mirage, finishing the Krakens 2-0 after a harder-fought Dust 2 13-11.
We take down @TeamAbyssalGG 2-0 in the @dfragtv Group B Winners Match!
— Ground Zero (@GroundZeroOCE) August 6, 2026
Great series from the boys to close it out GGs 👊#GZPZ #GZCS pic.twitter.com/F0UTUpDBle
Abyssal met Arcade twice for the final spot in the Open Series 6 playoffs; after defeating them in the opening series 2-1 (13-10, 7-13, 13-11), they only needed the two maps in the decider to book their spot in their second Open Series playoffs for 2026.
Ground Zero will meet Mindfreak in the playoffs opener Bo3 on Monday; the two met in Brisbane's lower bracket at the HyperX Intel Nationals in July, with GZ surviving a scare on their way to a grand final appearance.
Abyssal will seek revenge in their rematch against Rooster, who drowned the Krakens 13-2 in the HyperX Intel Nationals opener.
Both games kick off on Monday, August 10, at 8pm AEST.
- Read more: DFRAG Invitational 2026: Rego now open!
