Cover Image Courtesy: Intel Extreme Masters
After two days of celebrating the success of the two Asian teams, it was a dark day for all the supporters who were looking forward to seeing both ViCi Gaming and Tyloo qualify onto the Legends Stage.
ViCi took on Vitality head-on, it was always going to be a tough fight for the Chinese side but they gave it their best shot, which was quite evident by the way they were performing. ViCi played their hearts out on their own map pick, Inferno taking the match into triple overtime before Vitality was finally able to close out the game with a score of ‘25-22’. The second map observed another great attempt by ViCi as Vitality closed the match with a score of ‘16-12’ on Nuke.
The shocker was seeing Tyloo struggle hard against AVANGAR who was playing exceptionally well against the powerhouse that sunk both Vitality and Cloud9. Tyloo were playing their natural game but somehow AVANGAR was able to handle their executions while also adapting and working their way around the rock-solid tyloo defence. Tyloo lost on Cache followed by Inferno by scores of ‘16-12’ and ‘16-13’, as they fall down to play a decider on 17th February.
The French Stomp
The way Zywoo played tonight is exactly the reason why he was included in our list of ‘8 Lesser Known Players To Watch Out For At The New Challengers Stage’. With 65 kills to his name, Zywoo shredded through the ViCi lineup like a butcher's knife slicing through a fat, juicy lamb.
Others from Vitality contributed as well but Zywoo was the spearhead that pierced through ViCi’s armour. Kaze and Freeman led the charge for ViCi but were not effective enough with the senior members Zhoking and Advent not able to perform at the need of the hour.
Still left with a chance to make their way onto the Legends stage, ViCi will be facing their next opponent on 17th February.
AVANGAR Assemble
This was a bit unexpected as almost everyone expected Tyloo to pull through, especially after seeing the way they fought against NRG. But even after slugging hard against the Kazak team they were not able to win their way through to the next stage.
Tyloo as a unit was not able to do much today. BnTeT and Xccurate led the charge for the Chinese squad but it was not enough as the whole team had a very lacklustre performance when it came to trading kills. It looked as if the Tyloo from yesterday had been completely replaced by a bunch of second-hand imposters.
AVANGAR enjoyed a great day as all their players held a higher rating than the Tyloo line-up, moving ahead onto the next stage while Tyloo drops down to the decider bracket with their fate left to be decided on 17th February.
The schedule for tomorrow’s matches is as follows:
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NiP vs Vega Squadron | 17:30 IST
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G2 Esports vs Fnatic | 21:00 IST
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Cloud9 vs Furia | 00:30 IST