picture courtesy of Epicenter
EPICENTER 2017 has reached the end of the third day of group stage. LFY and Virtus Pro continue to top the charts while Clutch Gamers and Na'Vi haven't been able to get their feet off the ground.
With only one day remaining in the group stages, things are starting to take shape for the main event. The fate of four teams hang in the balance as only six teams will advance onto the main stage.
Planet Odd, the TI6 runner up team, Team Liquid and hometown favorites Na'Vi are all on the chopping block, necks extended and the deadly axe ready to drop. Lying in wait, with a hope and a prayer, they will embark on their last day tomorrow needing to win and hoping for each other and the third place teams to take losses. Clutch Gamers is already out of the equation but has one series left remaining at the event.
Group A
LFY looked every bit as spectacular as they did yesterday. Coming out of the gate, they crushed Na'Vi 2:0 with ease. Their only match of the day was like taking candy from a baby and they were able to maintain their lead in the group with Team Secret hot on their trail.
The European team showed up to EPICENTER with their A game. Their new pick up of Yazied "YapzOr" Jaradat on support last month is looking to be a wise choice on their part as he continues to come out with impressive performances. Again, poor Na'Vi was on the receiving end of a stomp victory series as Team Secret tore through the local heroes. Na'Vi have yet to see a winning game, feet firmly planted in the last place position thus far.
Surprisingly, OG continue to struggle along the path towards the main event today. After day one's upset by LFY, OG dropped their series today against Team Liquid 2:1. Team Liquid outplayed OG from laning phase to team fights in the first game, completely dismantling the four time major winners. Although OG swung back hard in the second game of the series to tie up the series, a knockout performance by Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi on his famed Invoker and flawless game by Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen on Faceless Void sealed Team Liquid's win for the series. With their win, Team Liquid were also able to barely keep their head above water for a chance to still advance, and put OG in a tight race to keep ahead.
Group B
Virtus.Pro have continued to stand tall and proud, occupying the first place position in their group. A disappointing loss at the hands of Invictus Gaming at the get go was the first and only loss the team was handed at the event thus far. Xu "BurNIng" Zhilei's perfect Wraith King and IG's dominance looked to be the key to taking down VP. The proud CIS team would have nothing of it however, in two consecutive matches, they torn down iG's momentum and forced matters into their own pace and hands for the series win.
Evil Geniuses - TI5 winners overpowered Planet Odd 2:1 with their loss flanked by two overwhelming victories. Planet Odd seemed to be struggling with the new meta, and finding their grove, however EG's performances should not be minimized either. Their first win of the series granted Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Arora his 800th career win and Syed Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan had outfarmed everyone by huge amounts.
The North American kings had taken the last match in only 24 minutes to much of Planet Odd's dismay. However, the North American based team was able to pick up the pieces and in the witching hour last series of the third day, they edged out Clutch Gamers 2:0 in two harrowing and grueling matches that both lasted almost a full hour each. Their victory gave them the last hope for a chance tomorrow to push Invictus Gaming out of the last spot. For Clutch Gamers, their loss sealed their fate of elimination.
EPICENTER 2016 day 4 group stage schedule:
Series A in English HERE and Russian HERE
Series B in English HERE and Russian HERE
11:00 CEST, OG vs Team Secret
11:00 CEST, Clutch Gamers vs Evil Geniuses
14:30 CEST, Na'Vi vs Team Liquid
14:30 CEST, Invictus Gaming vs Planet Odd
18:00 CEST, Evil Geniuses vs Virtus.Pro
18:00 CEST, Team Secret vs LFY
