The Kiev Major regional qualifiers kicked off today and will last up until the 14th of March. The Southeast Asian region was the first to open the group stage battle.
The regional qualifiers format features a bo1 round robin group stage leading to a double elimination playoff bracket. Only the top four placed squads in the group stage will advance into the playoffs, and for the SEA region the good news is that there are two spots available for them into the Kiev Major main event.
Regarded as the strongest competitors in their region, Daryl Koh 'iceiceice' Pei Xiang’s Team Faceless lived up to their fans expectation and had a perfect run through the first day, with four victories in the four games they had scheduled for the day. The other strong contender from the region, TNC played five games, and finished the day with only three victories in the bag which puts them in a little bit of danger already.
One of the big surprises at the end of day one is the five Filipinos from Clutch Gamers who are now the second in the group with four victories and one loss.
Clutch Gamers might have very well already secured a playoffs spot given the fact that they already played against TNC, Execration and Bazaar (ex-WG Unity), winning against all these three, while their only loss of today was registered against Faceless.
SEA regional qualifiers in numbers:
- Day one games played: 22
- Shortest game: 10 minutes Greek Fam vs Rex Regum Qeon
- Longest game: 77 minutes, Execration vs Team Bazaar
- Most picked hero: Centaur Warrunner, 16 games
- Most successful hero: Centaur Warrunner, 73% win rate
