The first day of StarLadder Season XI has concluded with Team Empire, Natus Vincere, ASUS.Polar and Ninjas In Pyjamas picking up first round victories. They push Fire, Hellraisers, MVP Phoenix and Power Rangers into the lower bracket and, beginning tomorrow morning, only two of those teams will survive elimination.
It was an early morning start for American qualifiers Fire as they began their debut at the Cyberarena in Kiev with a lacklustre performance. The team led by Brian 'FLUFFNSTUFF' Lee were easily swept aside by Team Empire in two landslide victories that both ended around the twenty five minute mark. This was exactly the beginning Fire desperately wanted to avoid, but it was business as usual as Team Empire push for their first StarLadder victory in seven appearances. The Russian team last found their way to the grand final in Season IX and look confident as they will attempt to move to the next round in tomorrow evenings match.
Team Empire will come up against long-time StarLadder rivals Natus Vincere in the next round after the Ukrainian team were able to secure a dominant win over Hellraisers, with both games ending in the twenty eighth in Natus Vincere's favour. Danil 'Dendi' Ishutin may have found the right hero with his Magnus being picked for both games, with notably second game performance resulting with a 6-0-9 score. Hellraisers will need to come through their lower bracket match against Fire tomorrow morning to remain in the tournament, a match they should be favourites to win.
Elsewhere in the tournament, Virtus Pro Polar debuted under their temporary new name ASUS.Polar as the team were comfortable in taking down their Korean opponents MVP Phoenix. The opening game only lasted 19 minutes as Ilya 'Illidan' Pevcaev and Alexandr 'DKphobos' Kucherya ran riot with Tiny and Axe. Their second game hit the 40-minute mark, but MVP Phoenix were always behind and were only able to take a single tower before they were forced to call 'GG'.
The final game of the evening was the battle between Ninjas in Pyjamas and Power Rangers. The only match of the day to hit a third game, Ninjas in Pyjamas were able to come back from a game down to win two consecutive games to force the Belarusian team into the lower bracket. The first game was notably dramatic, with Ninjas in Pyjamas ahead until a well-placed Chronosphere from Power Rangers' Kastrama 'chshrct' Yauheni managed to catch most of the smoked Swedish roster, setting up a game-ending Death Ward by Yaroslav 'NS' Kuznetcov and his Witch Doctor. Ninjas in Pyjamas were able to turn the match into their favour with two hard fought wins to secure their second round match against ASUS.Polar and force Power Rangers into a must-win tie against MVP Phoenix.
Headline image from SLTV's Facebook page.
More content on GosuGamers
