Image courtesy of EpicenterGG
One of the most hyped Majors of the season debuted with only one series of matches on its first day, due to an unforseen event that postponed the other series to Day 2.
Right on the first day of EPICENTER XL, the match between compLexity Gaming and FlyToMoon was rescheduled to Day 2 of the event, as the former team's equipment was misplaced and ended up on another flight. This was announced mere hours before the event was scheduled to start, leaving fans with a disappointing first day, which they hoped would give us more Dota.
Nevertheless, we were witness to some of the first few professional games played on the new patch that was released only a day prior to the event.
Virtus.pro 2:1 paiN Gaming
The only series of the day had quite a few things going for it. Not only was it the debut of the new patch 7.14 and the return of home crowd favorites Virtus.pro, but also the debut of paiN Gaming's new lineup with the recent addition of Aliwi "w33" Omar.
The series started off with a surprise win for the underdogs of the South American region, pushing the match to the late game and winning with the severely nerfed Terrorblade. They returned in the second game with an almost identical draft, adding a support Leshrac to their lineup, which didn't seem to work out. The CIS giants took a decisive victory and pushed the series to a third game.
Virtus.pro were ruthless in the deciding game, bringing out the new and improved IO to the limelight, that helped them massacre paiN Gaming in a ruthless stomp.
Day 2 of the event kicks off with an age-old rivalry between Secret and Newbee that is scheduled at 10:00 local time.
