IEM Sao Paulo Day two: Groups C and D in review

The second and final day of group stage play is over. The playoffs are complete. Today, the top eight contenders at Sao Paulo begin the fight for the $21,000 and the World Championship seeds.

In Group C, the Korean flag was once again unbeatable as both Violet and Real had no real trouble graduating from the group stage and advancing to the playoffs. They weer also the only players that managed to take a set out of each other while showing much greater class than the foreign contingent.

What killed part of the excitement in Group C was the fact that it was namely the Koreans who gave start to the competition during day two in Sao Paulo. Being regarded as the two favorites in the group, it felt like Real and Violet were already playing the first place match before any other series were completed.

There is a bigger price for the two Koreans that accompanies their success at Sao Paulo. Combined with their excellent performance at HomeStory Cup 4, both ReaL and Violet have earned their spots at the World Championship and will travel to Hanover in March to get a shot at the monstrous $75,000 prize pool.

Many people branded Ret as the best player in Group D and the Dutch zerg of Team Liquid did not disappoint, showcasing why ZvZ is his statistically best match-up. In the all-zerg Group D, Ret dropped but a single set to Slivko as he climbed up as the pool leader with an overall 6-1.

The Russian zerg was also on a convincing start, beating Snute 2-1 but after falling to Ret, he had to make a stand against home-field player Dakkon. A 2-0 victory over the Brazillian in combination with Snute's loss to Ret put Slivko at second place, making him the eight and final playoffs contender.

Despite reaching the top eight, both Ret and Slivko will have to go a bit further into the tournament if they want to make an appearance at Hanover.

Day three of IEM Sao Paulo shall see the first round of the playoffs as the quarter finals will be under way shortly, starting at 17:00 CET. The pairings are as follows:

IEM Sao Paulo Ro8
Supernova	VS	Slivko
Feast	VS	Real
Ret	VS	DarkForce
Violet	VS	Demuslim

Tomorrow will be the last day of IEM Sao Paulo. Once again starting at 17:00 CET, Saturday will see the top four being played out, determining who will be last four players to join the IEM World Championship player pool.