Day one of The International 5 Europe Qualifiers was the complete show, featuring a few dull games, a couple of smashing surprises and culminating with a heart stopping final chapter.
Group A was plagued by draws, three out the four scheduled games ending up undecided.
The only team able to follow through and obtain a clear victory was 4 Anchors, who will start the second day from pole position and with four precious points in their pocket. Favorites on paper, Alliance find themselves at the end of the day in a delicate position, being tied with Burden, both obtaining two draws and no victory which equates to only two points each. NIP and PR are the bottom ranks for now, but with three more games to play tomorrow, both teams have their chance to bounce back. The first day concludes with nothing set in stone and the two advancing positions from group A are still up for grabs with six remaining series to be played, but given the results so far, there’s a great chance we might witness tiebreaks.
Group B was definitely the highlight of the day, featuring the play of the day, unexpected upsets and amazing comebacks.
After a disastrous start with London Conspiracy, NA’VI found the strength to pull through the next two games and finished the day with a bang and six points that put the Ukrainians in a very comfortable first position. If they manage to defeat Yellow Submarine in their sole remaining game tomorrow, they are certain to qualify for the upper bracket. Yellow Submarine and London Conspiracy put their underdog hats on and delivered the upsets of the day which gives them a real shot tomorrow to grab a qualifying spot for the double elimination round. Vega stumbled and failed to live up to their reputation finishing the day with a loss and a draw, giving themselves little space for error in the two remaining matches against both scary dark horses, Yellow Submarine and London Conspiracy. Unfortunately for Hellraisers, their chances to a qualifying ticket have been squandered by obtaining only two meager points out of three series and not necessarily because they underperformed but mostly because the opposition played amazingly well.
The Upsets
4 Anchors managed to hold their ground against Alliance which is not an absolute upset, but after they rolled over PR and finished the day leading the group considered by many the most difficult one from the entire qualifying campaign, they certainly found themselves in a surprisingly favorable position.
London Conspiracy delivered the surprise of the day in their debut series against Natus Vincere by winning it with a baffling 2-0. In a funny turn of events London Conspiracy who looked strong and composed choked in the two game series against the open qualifiers winners, Yellow Submar1ne, and lost all the advantage gained with the previous win.
Yellow Submarine did not look intimidated at all by the big names surrounding them and embraced their underdog fates and fought bravely for their points, showing they have nothing to lose and only fame and glory to gain.
We could sense a whiff of pub games in their style, but that comes with a fearlessness that fuels their aggression and an amazing ability to coordinate in team fights. Day two will decide if they are but a fluke or they really do have the chops to make it in the big league.
Play of the day: SoNNeiKO
The loss against London Conspiracy marked the wakeup call for the Ukrainian champions and with their backs against the wall they realized that facing HellRaisers they had to summon all the inner strength that made them famous and start fighting for their own survival in these qualifiers.
After a clear cut victory for Na’Vi in the first game, HellRaiser’s held the early game entirely in their hands utilizing their Ursa pick to fully exploit the Dire side’s Roshan advantage. Getting early solo Roshan kills to boost their net worth and having on top of that great plays from the supports Dread (Jakiro) and Gorec (Dazzle) HellRaisers snowballed up to the point of knocking at Na’Vi’s tier three towers only 20 minutes into the game. NA’VI managed to repel the siege for 40 painful minutes riddled with blunders from both sides. But the psychological turning point of the game came from SoNNeiKO when the timer hit the 63 minute mark. Using an invisibility rune near the Roshan pit he managed to snatch probably the most important Aegis of the game from Ursa’s claws who was at that specific time with three other fellow heroes to protect her in the pit but missing the Puck who actually carried the gem. A great usage of Glimmer Cape enabled him to escape with “murder” and teleport safe home. All game long, the Ancient Apparition played by Artstyle whiffed most of his ice blasts but 20 minutes later after the Roshan incident, he hits a four men blast and Na’Vi wins their first 2-0 series of the day. With all the dramatic turns of events for Na’Vi and great plays coming from both teams this is a must-watch game from day one of European qualifiers.
Game of the day Na’Vi vs Vega Squadron Game 2
Benefitting from a massive boost of confidence resulting from the victory against Hellraisers, Na’Vi destroyed Vega in a 26 minutes long first match of the series utilizing a very aggressive Funn1k on Bloodseaker.
Game two looked grim from the get go though, the draft advantage going in Vega’s favor who opted for two hard carries, Leshrac and Shadow Fiend, as opposed to Na’Vi’s four protect one Gyrocopter belonging to XBOCT.
For almost an hour, the overwhelming pushing power of Vega’s lineup was met with extreme resilience on NA’Vi’s side. The game looked lost by the 66 minute when the Dire side was driving the Ukrainians back into their fountain while two sets of barracks lied in ruins. Just like Artstyle in the game against Hellraisers, Dendi missed the mark with most of his ultimates on Magnus, but he finally calibrated his Reverse Polarity and delivered two devastating instances in the 69th minute and turned the faith of the game. To gauge the intensity of the final minutes it should suffice to mention that XBOCT lost his Devine Rapier, bought back, regained it and gloriously demolished the enemy Ancient.
It was a game that had the casters screaming their lungs off, the spectators held by the edge of their seats and marked the return of Dendi the playmaker. Watch it!
Natus Vincere is the team that has everyone’s eyes on it. After almost a year of underperformance, always struggling to get a functioning roster and failing repeatedly to live up to their reputation they are finally reborn from their own ashes.
