Title image courtesy of StarladderTV
Virtus.pro and Team Secret have edged one step closer to the Chongqing Major championship title.
In a matter of two successive sweeps, the upper bracket Chinese hopefuls have fallen to the lower brackets and two Western giants took another step closer to the coveted The Chongqing Major title and lion's share of points.
PSG.LGD 0:2 Virtus.pro
In the first of the upper bracket series of the day, Virtus.pro were forced to put their trust into the hands of their coach, Arsenij "ArsZeeqq" Usov to captain and support the team with Alexei "Solo" Berezin out ill with the flu.
The first match was thrilling, with back and forth swings and excitement around the map. It even showcased a Toss-BuyBack bug during a fight at Roshan about 36 minutes in that changed the course of the momentum and potentially the outcome of the fight itself. Shortly after that, VP had seized the lead from PSG.LGD and secured their first victory.
The second match was pretty even for the first 28 minutes of the game, with each team being able to take only slight advantages and the other team being able to keep things in check. Then two back to back bad team fights for PSG.LGD gave way to VP being able to take control and steamroll to the end, knocking down the TI8 runner-up team to the lower brackets.
Virtus.pro's success this season and easily in this tournament seems to have secured them enough points to most likely receive another direct invite to The International this year.
EHOME 0:2 Team Secret
The Bucharest Minor winners have already proven that they deserved their spot in the Major lineup. EHOME had an impressive run in the group stage, sliding into second seed just under VP in their group and then bested Fnatic 2:1 in the first round of the upper brackets.
However, Team Secret made sure to let them and everyone else know, they are a real contender for the championship title and had no interest in being upset so early in the event.
The first match was easily in favor of Team Secret as they were able to take the early lead and maintain control until the end, finishing at only 27 minutes. The second match was a bit of a different story. EHOME seemed to have the better draft and early laning stage, taking the lead. They quickly built up a sizeable advantage and comfortable lead over Team Secret who were able to dismantle it and cut it down to size about 33 minutes in and turn the tables for an unexpected win.
Team Secret will next face Virtus.pro in the upper bracket finals on January 25th.
The Chongqing Major action continues tomorrow, January 23rd at 03:00 CET with the first of four lower bracket elimination series.
