Opening Day: 5 teams progress to round of 16

The World Cup playoffs finally kicked off yesterday as 32 teams battle it out for a spot in the last 16. On such a grand night no doubt a couple of great games were played, along with some drama as well.

Roam and KiLL vs Dirty Minds
Game 1		Game 2
RAK		DM
DM		RAK

1 up 1 down for Philippines
The opening match-up seemed very promising, with an up and coming SEA team going up against an old school European team. Unfortunately for RAK, after losing out on the first game they got completely obliterated in the 2nd, causing them to crash out early into the loser's bracket.

The exact reverse of fortunes however happened for their pinoy counterparts DuskBin eSports as they demolished dilated's dream team with an excellent display of team work and cohesion. Duskbin is proving to be a more an more interesting team to watch, playing the 1st game with an all out nuking lineup without any true DPS hard carry, and using Bloodhunter as a perfect counter for Doctor Repulsor.

MVP for DuskBin on the night was definitely ninjaboogie aka capt`mike who went on IMMORTAL streaks in both games. Zekaykay was also delivering as usual as the duo wreaked havoc across the map. This game was casted by the Gosu staff and you can check it out here.

FnaticMSI vs Wahlin
Game 1		Game 2
MSI		Wahl
Wahl		MSI

Back to basics
It was as if one had gone back in time to when the iLx boys just joined MSI during the 1st game's pick screen. After showing a significant degree of variation, MSI reverts back to use their most comfortable set-up. Wahlin had some tricks up their sleeve as well, suiciding Wretched Hag at the start to fake a Kongor attempt. In an action packed game where Panda was getting a dominating farm, one could not help but think to oneself: "I know where this is going..." FnaticMSI's farm eventually got out of control by mid game, with Trixi playing a great semi carry Bubbles with a Harkons Blade leading the team to victory with a 42-16 hero kill score.

Wahlin decided to take a leaf out of old school Dirty Mind's book in the second game as they went for a push and AOE heavy strategy, with Soulstealer as a late game carry should one be needed. Although they got some early towers, their strategy in essence failed as they did not get an early gold advantage. With Trixi's Forsaken Archer farming up a storm, things looked bad for Wahlin, even Chipper who was facing the early tower pushing trio was showing signs of a very good recovery. FnaticMSI proceeds to farm up and take the game.

SK-Gaming vs ToY-Gaming
Game 1		Game 2
ToY		SK
SK		ToY

Business as usual

Nothing too special about this match-up, but SK-Gaming won convincingly well considering they were missing out 2 star players in the form of AngryTestie and Fogged. Game 1 had some hilarious moments, usually involving Monarck on Nymphora, as for about 3~4 times in that game he ported his entire team right into SK-Gaming's initiation, instagibbing 3 heroes on his side at the start. One could argue that those lost teamfights cost ToY the game other than the fact that Blavo and Tralfamadore performed solidly in their carry roles.

Game 2 was closer, but once again Blavo and Tralfamadore were the shining stars for SK, carrying the game with Hag until Blavo's Sand Wraith had his Mock and was ready to takeover the game.

Finale vs PokerStars
Game 1		Game 2
PS		xFin
xFin		PS

A twist in the tale
In what was a very interesting series and apparent "upset" win over Finale, PokerStars truly played well to deserve their win. Their interesting setup in the 1st game, pulled off with credit to brized's continued prowess with the Electrician, was entertaining to watch. TheWhat on Corrupted Disciple on the other hand showed exquisite farming ability to carry his team to victory in the second game.

However, the Gosugamers crew were tipped off about some foul play involving both teams. In light of all this, both teams, are pending investigation. However, as a viewer I'd like to point out that these were 2 well played games, and are definitely worth a watch if you haven't yet.


Small sparks can lead to big fires
This was by far the most epic match-up of the night. Having just managed to get their 5th member on time, iMp had a horrible start to their 1st game, having their trilane obliterated by CNB's trilane, which in turn caused not only Pandamonium to get gimped, but handed Forsaken Archer some insane farm. However, Valkyrie was doing very well at top while Madman was doing decent for iMp. They had a massive chance to recover towards the end as a great defence genocided the CNB-Gaming, but fatal errors including the death of Madman as a result of overplaying cost them the game.

However, iMp wasn't done just yet, coming back in the 2nd game with a Sand Wraith pick. At surface value it seemed as if the game was fairly even for the 1st 20 minutes. It was important to bear in mind though, iMp were playing 4v5. While all the action was ensuing MissAir on Sand Wraith was farming and emerged at the 27th minute with a Helm of the Black Legion and a Mock of Brilliance. This was a fairly long game as both sides took caution and farmed up before engaging. Finally a good teamfight bottom decided the game in iMp's favour.

iMp was already on a roll by the time game 3 started, and to no surprise with everyone on their team firing on all cylinders, game 3 was a stomp in contrast to the previous 2 games. Already losing by 10k gold and 12k EXP, CNB decided to concede at the 22nd minute mark. Overall it took not only a lot of skill but sheer determination to get iMp this win and needless to say they deserved it.