The second day of group stage brought an early end to four more teams at ESL One Genting 2018.
The group stage continued chugging along today as teams fought to keep their tournament dreams alive. While the opening matches yesterday were a best-of-one affair, all matches played today were best-of-three series. For PENTA Sports, LGD Forever Young, compLexity Gaming and Fnatic it was the end of the road - hopes for minor points cut short by thrilling series and unforgiving assaults.
Group A
VGJ. Thunder had to fight hard for their first win of the series against compLexity Gaming, taking over 50 minutes to claim the opening victory. Although compLexity put up a tough fight and seemed to be holding their own, once the Lycan was online the Chinese team was able to run away with the lead and close out the game. The next match was much more one sided and a cleaner victory for the recent Galaxy Battles champions, taking and maintaining the control and lead from the start.
The second matchup in the group ended up being one of the more thrilling series of the day despite starting out with an overwhelmingly one sided and easy victory for Vici Gaming over Fnatic in just 23 minutes. The second match was a whopping 90 minute back and forth game that was dead even for over an hour. With over 100 kills logged in between the two teams, the action was non stop and the plays were impressive. It wasn't until about 80 minutes in when Fnatic were finally able to seize a lead they could maintain and claim the victory to even out the series. With their tournament lives on the line, the SEA team went into the third match firing on all cylinders. Armed with a slight lead, Fnatic looked to be in good shape for the series win. However, with ViCi Gaming wiping out the entire team around 42 minutes in, the Chinese team broke the game wide open and snatched the win from the SEA team right out from under their noses.
The two victories in the group sets the stage for a rematch between the two ViCi Gaming squads in the lower bracket finals. In the brutal one match opening, VGJ.Thunder had overpowered ViCi Gaming yesterday. One team between them will be eliminated tomorrow.
Group B
In the lower bracket finals Penta had taken on the North American giants, Evil Geniuses. A surprising upset in the first match by Penta gave the squad much hope and fans much excitement for a possible underdog story. It didn't take long for EG to bounce back into prime shape, dismantling their European opponents in 25 and then again in 23 minutes.
Mineski easily survived their lower bracket matchup, overwhelming LFY in both games, the second of which took them only 18 minutes to close out.
Team Liquid forced Natus Vincere into the lower brackets with a clean 2:0 sweep. Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi executed a flawless game on Gyrocopter in the first game, giving the European juggernauts easy control and domination. Na'Vi were hoping for better results in the second game, starting off a bit stronger and more coordinated, but their slight lead turned quickly on its head about 17 minutes in and the game belonged completely to Team Liquid until the end. The Ukrainian's will face off against Mineski for elimination in the lower bracket semi finals tomorrow.
Newbee continue to flex their muscles and show their worth in the pro circuit. They easily rolled over TNC Pro Team, wiping them out in quick succession. Once Newbee were able to wipe out the entire SEA team about 17 minutes into the first game, they rolled over their opponents taking a sizeable lead and easy control. The second match belonged to the Chinese team right from the start of the laning phases until the very end. To stay alive and see the playoff stage, TnC will need to overpower Evil Geniuses tomorrow in the lower bracket semi finals.
The groupstage wraps up tomorrow, January 25th at 12:00 local time/05:00 CET with the Group B lower bracket semi finals. Only six teams will be left standing at the end of the day.
