Mineski and OG reign as undefeated contestants of Captains Draft 4.0 group stage
The weather was frigid and in DC but the competition heated up between all eight teams in the group stage of Captains Draft 4.0 Minor. Both Mineski and OG weathered through the storm unscathed undefeated and slid into the first place of their respective groups. Opponents plowed through Team Empire and paiN Gaming as both teams were unable to find a victory at the end of the stage. Fortunately for them, no teams were eliminated in the group stage and they have a chance to retool their strategy and approach going into the playoffs.
Captains Draft 4.0 groups:
Group Horse:
Although Team Secret were expected to be the group favorite's by many due to their first place ranking in the Pro Circuit point distributions, the European team struggled to find their footing, ending with a 1:2 record, opening up the series with their only win against Team Empire.
In stark contrast and against Team Empire, Mineski was on fire, rising up against their opponents and seeming to display excellent execution and control in their matches. A support Dark Willow made a successful competitive debut, played by Michael "ninjaboogie" Ross Jr. as Mineski took on ViCi Gaming. Their undefeated status granted the SEA the top seed in the group and pits them against the last seed paiN Gaming from Group Hippo.
Group Hippo
Evil Geniuses' new roster made their debut against their NA rivals compLexity Gaming as the second series for the group. While EG looked to be in control of the early game, compLexity made a 10k gold deficit comeback thanks in part of two massive echoslams in the Rroshan pit by Kyle "kyle" Freedman which ended up wiping out EG and allowing Morphling to recover and come back online to claim the victory. Next up compLexity tried an offlane Pangolier against OG but without succes as the team dropped the match and then faced another devastating blow when they were run over by Evil Geniuses in a rematch to end the night, ultimately ending with a 1:2 record.
OG made things look easy and seemed to be back in top shape as they seized back to back wins for their first day - taking down paiN Gaming in only 23 minutes and then overpowering compLexity soon after. Their first place seed reward matches them up against Team Empire in the playoff elimination series up next.
Captains Draft 4.0 Playoff Brackets:
The action resumes on January 5th at 10:30 EST/16:30 CET with the first quarterfinals playoff series between Mineski and paiN Gaming. Playoff series are best-of-three, single elimination brackets so the first three teams will exit the event by the end of the night. The remaining quarterfinals series and semifinals will be played out tomorrow, January 6th. The grand finals are scheduled for January 7 at 12:30 EST/18:30 CEST and will be played in a best-of-five format.
