Day two of ESL One Hamburg’s group stage saw Chinese powerhouse, Vici Gaming, taking on Alliance’s new squad, led by Adrian “Fata” Trinks in a best-of-two match.

Game one

VG took an early lead in game one getting some early picks to put themselves in the driver’s seat. By the mid-game phase, the Chinese team had already built up a significant 11,000 gold lead and Zhang “Eurus” Chengjun on Gyrocopter was able to deal out massive amounts of damage in pivotal team fights.

After a successful clash at the Radiant Shrine, VG decided to siege their opponent’s top lane, but Nikolay “Nicobaby” Nikolov was there to stop them.

Along with some help from Simon “Handsken” Haag on Magnus, Alliance was finally able to take down Eurus’ Gyrocopter not once but twice.

Alliance tried to gain back some map control after their successful base defense, but because of their lack of detection, Eurus was able to survive Nikobaby’s Omnislash thanks to a clutch Glimmer Cape play from Ding “Dy” Cong.

While Alliance was slowly clawing their way back into the game, VG still had a significant gold lead and, with Alliance one man down, they attempted to end the game.

With the Radiant Ancient a few hits away from dying, Alliance was able to combo Grimstroke’s Soulbind with Juggernaut’s Omnislash and obliterated both Eurus and Zeng “Ori” Jiaoyang.

However, the Mega Creep advantage prevented Alliance from pressing forward, which let VG reset and try again. This time Alliance were unable to stop Eurus, and VG were able to claim game one in just under one hour of game time.

Game two

Alliance bounced back in game two and led from the start. After a dominating early game that saw them take a 14-3 kill lead by the 14-minute mark, they kept the pressure on VG and finished the game in a lightning-fast 34 minutes.

VG never really got into this game and were fighting an uphill battle all game after their poor start.

VG’s loss to Alliance is their first loss in the group stage of the competition. After two days, they sit firmly in first place in Group A with a 7-1 record.

Meanwhile, Alliance is right behind them in second place with a 6-2 record.

SEE ALSO: Team Liquid beats NIP after a thrilling group stage match at ESL One Hamburg