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General11 years agoGosu "GosuGamers" Gamers

iMp, Yamaha.s2y, sG and tdM towering over GSL after Day 1


Source: Mischa Tan

The Garena Star League 2013 had high expectations and was highly anticipated, today the moment of truth for every single team in the lineup was there. 15 epic hours later only eight hopefuls remain with a chance of becoming the Garena Star League 2013 Champion.

It started out with 24 teams and it dwindled down fairly quickly to the elite eight, the last eight teams with a chance to leave the BITEC in Bangkok with the title of being the Garena Star League Champion 2013.

Among those final eight teams are the NA/EU representatives Stay Green and Trademark eSports as well as the Malaysian powerhouse Orange eSports. Those names were expected to be in the conversation for the title all along - a couple of other names might be more surprising.

Headlining that list of surprises in the early stage of the tournament is Yamaha.s2y, also known as Sorry Sorry. When they went into the Group C no one really knew how good they were and all attention was directed at Invasion eSports, nxL Focus eSports and Kimochi by Tt eSports with notable names in that group. Still they silenced a lot of people with their performance on the servers and secured wins over every single opponent in the Group Stage. As one of only four undefeated teams that are still in the tournament, Yamaha.s2y was not really expected to be in that list. Yet they will play Stay Green tomorrow morning in the Upper Bracket Semifinals and might be the team that keeps the Thailand hopes alive the longest in this tournament.

Other teams that still protect their home field are Neolution eSports.MRR that had a tough time in Group D, but managed to get through to the Upper Bracket regardless. There they suffered a defeat at the hands of their fellow countrymen Yamaha.s2y - pushing them into the Lower Bracket to play even more games. The last match of their day was almost the highlight of the entire first event day. In an epic clash with the CIS Champions Cats Gaming, Neolution eSports.MRR had to pull out all the stops, all the big plays and their entire strategy arsenal to defeat the fiery Russians after all. The match lasted 80 minutes, had several tide turning Ultimates from both sides and was exciting due to several lead changes throughout.

The last remaining Thai team is the other surprise team in Paroma. Just like Yamaha.s2y they come out of Group C, just like Yamaha.s2y no one really had them on the radar and just like Yamaha.s2y they are still standing strong in the competition. After only the fifth place in Group C they rallied back and delivered upset victories against Shooter eSports, KooN and even the Upper Bracket participant Turtle Master. With them cruising through the Lower Bracket two Thai teams are guaranteed to be among the Final Six, and at least one Thai team will also make the Final Four.

Besides the Thai teams another SEA team stood out - iMpunity. The Singapore team came into the tournament as one of the most experienced team in the entire tournament with a lot of veterans. The team itself is playing together with the same core of people since early beta, but never quite made the jump over to reach the same hype as Orange eSports. Now they turned this around. Before the tournament started they were hyped as the darkhorse with splendid scrim results in the days leading up to the real Garena Star League 2013 kickoff.

They validated that hype with a crushing group stage and a good outing in the Upper Bracket to reach the Final Six at the very least. Now they play Trademark eSports, unfortunately not yet in a Best of Three mode. Now they got one shot to make an even bigger splash, upset the mighty Trademark eSports and carry the SEA torch into the Upper Bracket Finals. The potential is there, the team looks poised and ready to make the next step of their journey - can Trademark stop them?



The rest of the current brackets other than the two surprise teams were predictable to an extend. The fact that Invasion eSports and Cats Gaming met so early and nxL Focus eSports and the Vietnamese team of Friends Forever also met fairly early on is unfortunate, but in a star-studded bracket those will occur.

The action will continue tomorrow at 4 AM CEST with the Lower Bracket Matches and the highly anticipated Upper Bracket matches between Stay Green and Yamaha.s2y and Trademark eSports against the darkhorse team of iMpunity. After the first round only six teams will be left with a title chance and only two teams will be standing on top of the competition - in the Upper Bracket Finals.

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