With the mostly unpredictable group stages over, teams geared up for the playoff leg of the tournament, and well, the upsets kept coming.
NiP versus Majestic turned out to be a lopsided contest. Even though Hector “K1” Rodriguez’s Wraith King found a way to farm in the early stages, the European team’s Specter and Ember Spirit cores controlled all the crucial team fights.
Game 2 featured Fata’s unstoppable Timbersaw as he completely shut down the mid-lane, and with that NiP sent Majestic down to the first round of the loser’s bracket.
Meanwhile, FWD’s Chaos Knight was just too much for RNG to handle as they battled for high-ground, 30 minutes into the first match. The favored Chinese team then tried to bounce back with a Tiny-Lifestealer “infest bomb” combo but was unsuccessful thanks to Arif “MSS” Anwar’s remarkable Nyx Assassin play. RNG falls to the lower bracket where they’re set to face Majestic.
In the upper bracket, NiP dominated FWD in their matchup. The North American team’s Tiny and Centaur picked off the European squad’s squishy ranged heroes but by the 14 minute mark; NiP’s draft hit its peak and a massive blunder by Tiny tossing Tidehunter instead of Drow Ranger into their base cost them the game.
The last match of the day was a complete disappointment for FWD as they failed to contest the lanes in the early game and prompted the commentators to point out “this might be the most one-sided series in the tournament so far”. With that, NiP advances to the upper bracket finals.
Day two of the playoff stage continues on April 26 with BOOM ID vs EHOME and Alliance vs Gambit, with the winners playing each other. You can watch the stream here.
