The group stage of ESWC 2015 has concluded with top eight teams moving on to the playoffs.
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The opening day of ESWC 2015 saw sixteen teams fighting for the top two seeds of each group which were leading to the playoffs. The teams were divided into the four groups where they played out a roundrobin format with the best-of-one matches.
Group A was dominated by Cloud9 who are surely showing that they didn't only have a short rise at ESL ESEA Pro League, but instead a very big improvement in their performance. The North American team didn't really struggled to take any win away of their opponents. They are being followed by FlipSid3 Tactics who came to this event with one stand-in. Although they had to use Hiko as a replacement for WorldEdit, FlipSid3 still managed to make it through, leaving Keyd Stars behind them.
The second group had no surprise. Ninjas in Pyjamas were the only favourites and they topped it with the three easy wins, dropping only 14 rounds in total. It's yet to be seen how the legendary Swedes will act once they are put infront of some stronger opponents, but this surely shows that they are on good road of getting out of the recent slump. The second placed team in this group is Team Liquid, who after all was the one with the highest chance of taking it. Howerver, it's worth to mention that the Chinese represent, QeeYou, has taken down Team LDLC White in an very interesting match, securing their only win at the tournament.
Natus Vincere had no mercy for their opponents in the group C, easily walking over everyone and finishing at the top with 3-0. The Ukranian team had issues getting visas for the complete roster to this event, but they didn't had any problems to show their strength and versatility during it. SK Gaming managed to make an upset and to defeat Titan in the direct duel for the second spot which brought them a spot in the playoffs and left the French guys short for it.
And in the final group we saw EnVyUs coming out on the top with 3-0, leaving CLG and Renegades behind fighting for the second spot. In the direct duel between these two teams we saw CLG having a better opening and a 13-8 lead, where in the end Renegades came out victorious with 16-13. It once again proved that every round is important in best-of-one group stage and a North American team which had a very impressive run last weekend at ESL ESEA Pro League will be packing home now after only a group stage.
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