The third day of the DAC 2018 group stage has come to an end. Team placements are starting to take shape as VP have run through undefeated and only four series remain in each group.
It almost seems hard to believe that a patch dropped only the other day, in the middle of the DAC 2018 group stage —but it has and the teams have 'rolled' along with the punches. Without so much as a hiccup, the tournament has been going quite smoothly for fans and the production team, although not so much for some of the teams that have already been knocked out or will need to fight for their tournament lives in their last battles.
Group A
The group continued to be more highly contested than it's counterpart. Keen Gaming is the only team that is already knocked out of contention in the group, with the other seven teams still able to battle it out for a place in the breakout or even playoff seeds of the main event. OG is on the brink of elimination, having dropped both of their matches to Newbee and TNC Pro Team today. The team's 0:2 record puts them in second to last place in the group with a 2:4 record. Their last match will be against LGD Gaming. A win for them and a loss for Newbee, TnC or Vici Gaming could mean a chance to continue for the Dream Green squad.
Team Liquid worked their way back up to the top of the charts today, two fast and furious matches gave them some much-needed momentum going into the last day. Although OpTic Gaming lost to the TI7 champions, they continued to stay in great form and are still looking like a serious contender in the main event.
Group A may be looking at some tie-breakers tomorrow, creating some interesting results for the group at the end.
Group B
As things start to wind down for the group stage, Virtus.pro is already kicking back to enjoy a direct ticket to the playoffs of the DAC 2018 main event. Six in a row — the number of wins the CIS powerhouse secured to take the top spot in Group B. With one more game left, against Team Secret tomorrow, the results won't matter much for Virtus.pro but could mean the difference between the breakout round and playoffs for the Europeans.
Group B continued to still hold most of the excitement between both groups. Mineski broke the ice as the first team to debut Pangolier in their match against Team Secret, securing their first win of the day. The South American's picked out a page from the SEA book and chose the hero also to go up against the Europeans in their next match. Unfortunately for paiN Gaming, the results weren't the same and Team Secret was able to hold their own against the Pangolin. paiN Gaming's loss meant that the team ended 0:2 for the day, with a total of 0:6 record. An unfortunate record that is also matched by Team Effect. Both teams are eliminated from the event with no chance to strike a comeback in the last day of matches.
The group stage will take place from the 29th until April 3rd, followed immediately by the Main Event taking place from the 4th through the 7th.
Group Stage
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Sixteen teams play in a Bo1 round robin.
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Top two teams from each group advance to the Playoffs of Main Event.
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Bottom two teams from each group eliminated.
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Teams placing 3-6th head to breakout phase.
The group stage resumes tomorrow, April 1st at 12:00 local time/07:00 CEST with the series A4 and B4. Vici Gaming will take on TnC as Evil Geniuses will face off against Mineski to kick things off in each group.
