IPL day 1 came to a close with some surprises in the group stage and Koreans dominating the open brackets.
Day 1 showed us a couple of interesting battles as NesTea proved his experience by destroying aLive 2-0 in the opening match, and followed up with crushing TAiLS to a final outcome of 4-0. Proving that he still has what it takes and owning up to his past trophies, NesTea is the undisputed victor of Day 1 with an undefeated record. aLive came in second for group A as he triumphed over Tails 2-0.
As the day closed, Ganzi and Parting joined the group having qualified through the open bracket. Parting showed a remarkable road, beating KiWiKaKi in the fourth round and Leenock and getting the Group Stage spot after beating Sase in the lower bracket final after falling to Ganzi. An interesting mention is of Scarlett, a female zerg player making a very respectable way through the bracket, drawing a lot of attention by crushing Terious 2-1.
| Group A | ||
  NesTea | 2-0 | 4:0 |
 aLive | 1-1 | 2:2 |
| Ganzi | 0-0 | 0:0 |
 Parting | 0-0 | 0:0 |
| TAiLS | 0-2 | 0:4 |
NesTea 2-0 aLive NesTea 2-0 TAiLs aLive 2-0 TAiLS | ||
Group B started off with the reigning IPL champion Stephano beating White-Ra in a close ZvP series with a remarkable first set, featuring zealot harass, motherships (neuralled and otherwise), archon toilets and invisible brood lords. Unfortunately, he could not keep up with MarineKing as the Korean took him down after successfully beating White-Ra.
The group was joined by JYP and Curious from the open bracket, where all foreigners were eliminated in the starting rounds and as the bracket progressed, it simply looked very much like Code S Playoffs.
| Group B | ||
| MarineKing | 2-0 | 4:2 |
 Stephano | 1-1 | 3:2 |
| JYP | 0-0 | 0:0 |
| Curious | 0-0 | 0:0 |
 White-Ra | 0-2 | 1:4 |
Stephano 2-0 White-Ra MarineKing 2-1 White-Ra MarineKing 2-1 Stephano | ||
Group C showed us an interesting story, as Polt stole away the attention from the Puma-MC rivalry, managing to defeat both of them and making him the top contender in the group. As the interesting match of MC vs Puma came to a close, MC was seen standing after the smoke cleared with a decisive 2-0.
Creator and Squirtle joined group C from the third bracket of the open tournament, which opened with a loud upset as Rumcake beat MVP in the first round, sending him to the losers bracket where he was eventually eliminated by Machine. Sase was amongst the foreigners who made it furthest, but was erased in the losers bracket by Parting.
| Group C | ||
| Polt | 2-0 | 4:1 |
| MC | 1-1 | 2:2 |
| Squirtle | 0-0 | 0:0 |
| Creator | 0-0 | 0:0 |
| Puma | 0-2 | 1:4 |
Polt 2-1 Puma Polt 2-0 MC MC 2-0 Puma | ||
Group D started out with Idra continuing on his slump, losing first to Bomber and then being destroyed by MMA as expected. Bomber rode on his success to defeat MMA with an impressive 2-0.
The last contenders to join the groups were Jjakji and Byun. Jjakji faced another strong foreigner - Huk and managed to defeat him in the semifinals. In the losers bracket, Curious built upon HuK's earlier defeatm thus ending the last foreigner presence in the open brackets.
| Group D | ||
| Bomber | 2-0 | 4:1 |
| MMA | 1-1 | 2:2 |
| Jjakji | 0-0 | 0:0 |
| Byun | 0-0 | 0:0 |
 Idra | 0-2 | 1:4 |
Bomber 2-1 Idra Bomber 2-0 MMA MMA 2-0 Idra | ||
Day 2 of IPL 4 will resume today 1900 CET, check back to GG - Starcraft 2 for more coverage.
