Day one of the M5 World Championship Wildcard Tournament is over and the results were almost exactly what was expected.
headline images courtesy of Moonton
Today we saw the first day of the M5 Wildcard Tournament, with each team having their first series of the event. For some, it was a rough start, while others made a great showing in their opening round of best-of-three series – although we did see some close calls with upsets. For the most part, everything went as expected for the four winning teams on Day One.
Four teams are off to a great start
Team SMG was first to get their Wildcard adventure underway, with a series against 
Niightmare Esports. After a strong game one, SMG seemed destined to make it a quick series, but the Laos squad hit back, looking primed to cause an upset as they tied the series. Unfortunately for them, the experience of SMG shone through, as they secured a quick victory in the final game to set themselves up on the path to the M5 main event.
Group B was next with China’s first-time qualifier, 
KeepBest Gaming, taking on 
Imperio – the Argentinian Latam Liga 2023 third-place team. Unfortunately for the Chinese squad, they could not match up to the power of a team that looked brilliant on the day and definitely have a strong chance of reaching the M5 as South America’s third challenger.
The series between 
Team Falcons and 
4Merical Esports was an intense one as the third of the day, with the first game lasting half an hour and the second going over 20 minutes too. Both teams put up a great fight, but it was the Falcons who soared higher and eventually took a 2-0 win.
Last but not least Day one would see 
Team Lilgun going head-to-head against 
Umbrella Squad, as the two teams from Mongolia and CIS, respectively, entered the Wildcard Tournament. While Umbrella came out the doors with an extremely quick first-game win, Lilgun followed up quickly with some fantastic plays to take a reverse sweep win.
All-in-all it was a great first day of action from the Wildcard Tournament, and tomorrow we return to it with more best-of-three series, and the chance for some teams to utilise the information from the first day to make a comeback.
