The first day of the major has come to a close, leaving some surprised.
The first major of 2017, hosted by ELEAGUE, began today, with eight games being played between the sixteen teams in attendance. The major group stage is using Swiss format, meaning that there are no groups, and each team will play until they have either three wins or three losses; upon gathering three wins, the teams will move on, while teams that lose three will be eliminated.
The first day of the major brought some expected results, with a few upsets sprinkled in, leaving the day 2 matchups slightly skewed.
Here is a recap of what happened on day one, game by game:
Game One
The first game of the day led to the surprising result of Gambit defeating North, in a fashion that could not have been expected. North was the expected favourite, with few people awarding Gambit much chance of defeating the Danes, but they did just that, in surprising fashion. The players of Gambit clearly outfragged those in North, almost completely across the board, with the Danish stars not showing up.
Game Two
G2 Esports vs. 
Fnatic: 16-10
The second game of the day put the Swedish stars of Fnatic against the weakened French of G2, leaving no clear favourite. The first half of the game was quite balanced, but ended with a 9 to 6 lead for the Swedes, with KRiMZ leading the pack, decimating CT side of G2 several times. However, the tides quickly turned in the second half, as the Frenchman found lost vigour, taking over the match, winning 10 of their 11 T side rounds. The success of the French came from strong play of RPK and key rounds by both shox and ScreaM.
Game Three
SK Gaming vs. 
HellRaisers: 16-7
The third matchup featured the Brazilian side of SK taking on HellRaisers, on Mirage. The first half basically led to the end of the game, as SK won the second round, after losing pistol. They dominated the entire half after, predicated off of the play of coldzera, fer, and TACO, all making huge plays when they counted most. In the second half, HellRaisers attempted a comeback, winning three in a row, but were quickly swatted down by the superior Brazilians, leading the a final score of 16-7.
Game Four
Virtus.Pro vs. 
OpTic Gaming: 16-13
The first half of the OG and VP game led many to believe that OpTic were going to seemingly do the impossible and take down the NA killers, which few have done before. They began by going up 5-1, winning the pistol, the subsequent two, and responding back with two, after VP took their first round. The rest of the half saw VP strike back, with five more rounds, and OG ending the half with two in a row. The second half was similarly balanced at first, but VP took off, with a five round streak. After matching the score at 12-12, OG took one more, but VP went on another streak, narrowly closing the game at 16-13.
Game Five
Na’Vi vs. 
Mousesports: 16-3
There is not much to say about game five, as it was complete domination by the CIS giants of Na’Vi, beating down NiKo’s team, leaving almost no room for them to win rounds. In the first half, Na’Vi took a 9-0 lead before Mouse won their first round, leaving them to only take one more for the rest of the half, ending at 13-2. The second half would be much the same, but with Mouse winning the pistol; however, Na’Vi managed to steal away the second round force buy, leading directly to the end result of 16-3.
Game Six
EnVyUs vs. 
Team Liquid: 25-21
The Envy and Liquid game was the most exciting of the day, leading to triple overtime, when the French finally edged out the victory. The first half of play was not entirely one-sided, but ended with a 9-6 half, in favour of the French. After the first half, however, it seemed that Envy would steamroll the Americans, swiftly bringing the score to 15-7, leaving 8 match points. Despite this deficit, Liquid made a surprise comeback, off of the back of a 1 vs 4 clutch by JDM and incredible play all around from Elige. The first two rounds of overtime were quite balances, but one key point rose for the French, and that was the emergence of apEX, who had been quiet in regulation. The third overtime approached, with Envy taking a commanding lead, winning outright.
Game Seven
Having seen the last part of 2016, many have had Astralis picked as favourites to win the major, particularly in the first round of play, taking on the much weaker side of Godsent. This result, however, was in favour of the Swedes, as they shocked Astralis with superior play in every Aspect, with only Dev1ce showing any light for the Danes. Starting on T side, Astralis looked reasonably lost, despite playing on Train, where they have been said to be the best in the world. The first half was domination from the Swedes, ending at 12-3. The second half gave Godsent the pistol, but Astralis responded, but only in vain, as they would only get three rounds, before Godsent would close the game out, 16-3.
Game Eight
FaZe Clan vs. FlipSid3 Tactics: 16-9
The final game of the night was perhaps the most straight forward, as it was neither domination, nor collapse from either one of the sides. The mixed team of FaZe was the expected favourites, coming in from a hot run at the end of 2016. The first half led to yet another 9-6 half, with the boys from FaZe edging out on the CT side. The second half was a bit more lop-sided, as FaZe took seven rounds, by the time F3 took three. The win from the Euro team was given by strong play from both allu and Rain, and the heroics of Electronic on FlipSid3 were not enough to carry them to a win.
As the first day of the ELEAGUE Major draws to a close, teams are discovering who they will matchup against next. For more information, streams, coverage, and news about the major, please visit our events page, by clicking on the headline image. For those who cannot watch the event unfold, GosuGamers will be here each evening, with a recap of the day’s action.
Image: ELEAGUE
