Day 2 of the DAC is well underway and we are beginning to find out what teams are establishing their dominance and which ones are struggling to compete against the opposition. EG and Secret sit at the top of the group with Vici and Rave just below them, but TI4 champions Newbee could be in for an early exit.
While Evil Geniuses and Secret Team end the day with impressive undefeated 6-0 records, the day ended with horror for Cloud 9 fans after the team failed to register a victory after a convincing opening day to leave them in the bottom four positions. It was the complete opposite for Natus Vincere who survived the second day without a loss after a sluggish opening day to give the team some belief of survival going into the final three days of the group stage. Elsewhere, things are looking bleak for Newbee and MVP Phoenix with both teams failing to pick up victories today and stay in the elimination spots at the bottom of the table.
Read quick summaries about the played games:
- Day 2, part 1: Round Robin, round 13-15
- Day 2, part 1: Round Robin, round 10-12
- Day 1, part 3: Round Robin, round 7-9
- Day 1, part 2: Round Robin, round 4-6
- Day 1, part 1: Round Robin, round 1-3
- Day 0: Wildcard qualifiers
Our day 2 coverage continues here with round 16-18:
Round 16
CDEC Gaming vs. Secret Team 0-1
One of the contenders of highlight of the day, CDEC narrowly lost to Secret Team in a dramatic base race scenario. The game started with CDEC drawing first blood on Arteezy’s Lycan. They pressed the advantage, resulting in a 7-1 kill score 7 minutes in the game. At first, CDEC seemed to be ahead, winning team fights, taking Roshan in large part thanks to Mikasa’s strong Shadow Fiend performance, but Secret managed to hang on and started pushing into CDEC's base with their summons. When the game hit 51 minutes, CDEC was left with a set of rax. CDEC lost a massive teamfight against Secret as they were pushing but a mistake by Secret and CDEC tried to take their throne, but the enemy Lycan and the familiars were already in CDEC’s base, taking their throne. CDEC proceeded to lose the base race.
Hellraisers vs. HyperGloryTeam 1-0
HGT took an early lead in this game, being 4 kills up before 6 minutes had past, with support Skywrath Mage claiming 3 of them. This lead was slowly evened out as PA started coming online. The early game was chaotic as big team fights constantly occurred. But, Hellraisers farmed up, continued to push their advantage in the game. By 31 minutes, PA got a triple kill resulting in the taking of two sets of rax. Hellraisers struggled a bit after this but crushed HGT by taking Megas at 39 minutes.
Arguably the most surprising of the three matches as Big God crushed EHOME. Two minutes in the game, BurNing's Juggernaut picked up first against Invoker. It was the beginning of the end. Leading 4-1 within the first five minutes both Juggernaut and the Tidehunter snowballed out of control. A failed team fight at Roshan saw EHOME lose 4 players with only two kill and a used Aegis as a reward. This triggered Big God to push into the EHOME base; the gold and experience deficit EHOME resulted in a team wipe and 2 sets of rax lost. EHOME tapped out at the 27th minute.
Round 17
An early first blood for ppd's Vengeful Spirit saw EG take an early game lead, but Tongfu were able to secure their own kills and towers to remain in the early game. Tongfu were looking like a potential upset could be on the cards but a three man wipe saw EG get the boost they needed and a 19 minute team wipe, both at the hands of Universe's dominant performance on Puck, confirmed EG's ascension. From there on, EG were in cruise control and an eventual push into Tongfu's base saw a big team wipe and a quick 'GG' to end the game in the 30th minute.
First blood came for Newbee but LGD began controlling the early game with 4 early kills and 3 assists for Faith's Witch Doctor, with only Mu's Shadow Fiend and Lone Druid retaining any hope for a comeback from Newbee. Before the 20 minute mark LGD had taken two tier two towers with little to no response from Newbee. The game grew to a lull with both teams becoming incredibly passive. With LGD's tactic of taking one kill or tower and backing off, Newbee smoked and followed the team to Roshan, where they were easily teamwiped bringing an 38 minute 'GG' to end another poor performance from the TI4 champions.
Rave's battle against Vici Gaming began with a four man gank against fy's Skywrath Mage to claim an easy first blood for Jeyo's Templar Assassin. While the first three minutes of the game were extremely passive, Rave continued to build their early game pressure with Jeyo and ryOyr's Axe leading the net worth. With Super's Medusa VG's only hope, a series of team fights saw Rave retain their lead. Vici gradually crept back into the game with a successful tower defense and eight kills in the space of three minutes. The game was evenly matched deep into the late game, but a successful team fight in Rave's base saw Vici force an end to the game in the 52nd minute.
Round 18
HR's bold decision to begin the game with a smoke into C9's jungle paid off after a big team fight left HR with first blood and a kill advantage. Hellraisers continued their advantage through the early game, but C9 were never out of the game and some questionable decisions invited C9 to even the kills. A Roshan attempt by C9 was obliterated by gorec's Axe, not only able to kill Roshan, grab the Aegis but also landed a triple kill over C9 in an incredible individual play. In what was potentially a drafting error, C9 struggled to find anything substantial against HR and ARTE's Phantom Assassin started dominating his opposition to end an incredibly bad day for C9 in just 26 minutes.
It wasn't until the third minute for Na'Vi to claim first blood and they were able to hold an advantage above their wild card rivals during the early game. A 13th minute team fight outside Roshan saw Na'Vi further extend their lead. A quick Aghanim's Scepter on Warlock meant Na'Vi's pushing power was immense and with such a dramatic early game lead, HGT were unable to stop the power of Na'Vi's second day comeback and a big team fight victory saw them force HGT to call 'GG' after only 24 minutes.
Invictus Gaming vs. MVP Phoenix 1-0
MVP's Heen secured first blood over Luo in the second minute, but a failed gank in mid and a big 7th minute team fight saw iG secure an early game advantage. As the game went on MVP were able to pick up the occasional kill but iG retained their advantage. An Aegis theft and 3 man wipe in iG's favour extended their lead, but the Chinese team remained passive. An eventual siege of MVP's base saw iG land a team wipe and a lane of barracks and following a similar push through the middle of their base forced MVP to call 'GG' in the 35th minute.
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