Photo: DreamHack
It's 3-1 for the westerners after the first four matches on Chinese soil as notable names like Kolento and Stanislav Cifka prevail.
On paper, team Europe went to China outgunned. The eight Chinese players were selected from the high-profile $50,000 Gold Series grand finals, while Europe's squad was assembled through a sequence of 1000-man open qualifiers. The latter made for a team rich on players with little or no televised experience.
So far, however, the foreigners have been doing oustandingly on Chinese soil. Europe is currently leading three series to one and is looking great coming into the second day of Ro16 matches when players like ThijsNL are also expected to deliver.
The three matches that Europe ended rather one-sidedly. MTG veteran Stanislav Cifka, 2014 player of the year Kolento and Swiss underdog Entryfee gave only one game each to their Chinese opponents and ousted IceFox, GreenMemory and Xyuan out of the competition. China only scored in the last match of the day as SleepyShaman snatched a five-game nailbiter against Chimmy. The German youngster was on his way to a reverse 3-2 comeback when the Hunter of the Chinese took the deciding game against the fighting for survival Paladin.
Europe will make another stand starting 09:00 CET tomorrow as they continue their crusade towards the lion's share of the $60,000. At the same time, it will be a good day for China to show its teet as it sends in three of its most decorated players - TiddlerCelestial, MagicWind and Lovelychook.
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