Kiev Major Round 2 groups closed out the first day of the event. Surprises, upsets, record breaking moments and heartbreaks laid the foundation for what is expected to be a blockbuster of an event.
While fans witnessed their beloved Johan "N0tail" Sundstein play in his 1400th professional match,
they also witnessed a farming record in the making,
as well as Marc Polo "Raven" Luis Fausto setting the record for kills in any Valve event.
But the real storylines that had everyone's attention was the modified Swiss Format and how the teams were starting to match up against each other.
Things couldn't have started out any better for Invictus Gaming and Team Secret as they cruised through with flawless and staggering performances. TnC upset the North American teams, handing out losses to both EG and Thunderbirds.
Mousesports, SG and Team Faceless just could not catch a break or a series win- despite their incredibly valiant efforts to do so. The teams will need to rework and retool their strategy and focus going into the games tomorrow if they hope to find themselves on the upper end of the seeding for the main event.
Kiev Major Round 2 groups - High:
Invictus Gaming continued to dominate the groups as they trampled over OG with a 2:0 sweep. Hyped as a revenge series, OG was looking to redeem themselves after falling to the Chinese giants 3:0 in DAC 2017. Invictus Gaming had other plans. Making space a constant priority, iG were always able to have a sense of control and confidence in the games. Even while OG was taking the lead in the second match for the first 40 minutes, Xu 'BurNing' Zhilei was doing his thing - farming away with infallible efficiency to become simply untouchable.
Virtus.Pro went head to head with the TI6 winners and barely broke a sweat. Random Team's solo victory was flanked by two overwhelming abyssmal losses. The CIS team absolutelly shellacked Random Team in less than 30 minutes with a 22:6 ending score. While wings regained their composure for the second match, it quickly was extinguished in the third once again with simliar results.
After coming off on the favorable side of an upset over EG in the first round, TnC managed to clear their second electrifying accomplishement of the day knocking down Thunderbirds. TnC Pro rose to the occasion from the lower brackets to victory in the SEA Kiev Major qualifiers. The team struggled through the brackets but at Kiev Major, a different story is being written as the team seems to have sterling performances and excelling each step of the way.
Team Secret had been low key and relatively silent in the weeks leading up to Kiev Major. Fans were uncertain on what to expect from the team that seems to have two polarizing performances. Today's matches were not disappointing to their loyal fans. Following their sweep over VGJ in the first round, the European squad managed two heavily onesided victories yet again - toppling over the new Digital Chaos squad.
iG, Virtus.Pro, TnC and Team Secret found themselves headed in to the Round 3 high brackets for their efforts.
Kiev Major Round 2 groups - Low:
The Evil Geniuses vs Faceless was expected to be less dramatic than it actually ended up being. After two near hour long matches - awarding a win to first Evil Geniuses and then Faceless, the third match was rather quick and extremely one sided as the North Americans unleased a relentless onslaught on their opponents.
SG found themselves in the lower group for round 2, but not before they could take a win off of the European sweethearts - OG. Looking to have a strong surprising journey, the Braziliian team was not able to keep a firm grasp on their momentum and began to struggle at the hands of Team Liquid. Try as they might, it didn't take Liquid much to overpower the South Americans and laid a heavy hand on top of them, grinding their excitement to a halt.
iG.V faced off against VGJ where it seemed that Sun "Agressif" Zheng would once again take the center stage. From his time on CDEC at TI5, the carry player has once again rallied his team behind him. Zhang "Paparazi?" Chengjun's invoker was infamously on display in the second match, granting iG.V their sole victory in the series.
Newbee continued to struggle in the second round just as much as they had in the first. Their less than expected performance allowed for Mousesports to seize their first victory in the night. Mouz enjoyed their slice of cheese for only a moment, as Newbee lashed back to claim the second match and tie up the series. It was the third match that was a doozey. A roller coaster or twists and turns, the teams grappled to take a firm hold of a lead and aim for a win to avoid the lower bracket round 3. After 75 minutes and a 51:50 score, it was Newbee that would end up waving the victory flag.
Matches will resume tomorrow, Tuesday April 25 at 08:00 CEST with the two sets of Round 3 high and two sets of Round 3 mid.
Kiev Major Round 3 groups:
