The first major of the new competitive season has kicked off in splendid fashion. On day 1, all eight teams attending the event competed in a BO1 preliminary stage to determine the seedings for the following rounds.
Played on a format(BO1s) which was bound to result in an upset or two, Day 1 of the ESL One: Hamburg saw nothing of the sort. Newbee, Team Secret, Team Liquid and Virtus.Pro emerged victorious, while Evil Geniuses, Fnatic, SG e-sports and Keen Gaming left licking their wounds.
Here is a short recap of the day’s proceeding, in-case you missed any of the action.
Fnatic vs Newbee
Anyone who was hoping for Fnatic to replicate Mineski’s unbelievable run at the PGL: Open Bucharest (**cough** Gambit **cough**) at ESL One: Hamburg would have been sorely disappointed.
EternalEnvy’s drafting once again left us all baffled as we saw him draft a 2nd pick Anti Mage which resulted in an immediate Bloodseeker counter-pick from Newbee. With Sccc’s signature Death Prophet in tow, Newbee were prepared to roll-over Fnatic.
I don't understand this Fnatic draft....or the smiles on the players faces, when they have to know the game will be rough
— Toby Dawson (@TobiWanDOTA) October 26, 2017
Team Secret vs Evil Geniuses
This was the most hyped up match of the day. No matter when? Or what the circumstances are? The Evil Geniuses vs Team Secret matchup always delivers.
It was a game of two halves, separated by one Roshan teamfight. Evil Geniuses were firmly in control of the game as a result of their stellar early game. They took kills and objectives all around the map with ease and through their great timing and movement had built themselves a significant advantage with a 3-15 kill score.
Midone was struggling on his Ember Spirit, suffering multiple deaths in the early game phase. But then came the Rosh Fight.
From then up until the game ended less than 10 minutes later, Team Secret gave up just 1 kill to EG’s 16 as the NA squad were in complete disarray and frankly looked tilted. Secret closed out the game with ease as they teamwiped EG twice back-to-back and forced out the GG call from EG.
Team Liquid vs SG Esports
Liquid are just too good. They drafted themselves a lineup consisting of a Spectre, the 7th least picked hero in this patch and still managed to win in under 35 mins.
Matumbaman’s Broodmother ran the show until the 20-minute mark after which Miracle took over. Going for the Infamous ‘Badman Build’ on the Spectre, Miracle’s aggressive approach on the Spectre made sure that SG Esports didn’t stand a chance against the Liquid in the Mid Game.
While SG Esports did perform better than anyone expected, they were just outclassed and outskilled by the TI7 Champions. It is gonna take something special to stop the Liquid juggernaut.
VP vs Keen Gaming
The final game of the day surprisingly started off as the most evenly matched game of the tournament so far. Keen Gaming were holding their own against CIS’s finest. VP’s aggression which usually leads to opponents crumbling just didn’t seem to phase Keen Gaming.
But unfortunately, VP had a plan B. The Bloodseeker – DP Combo. Keen Gaming just couldn’t handle the damage that No[o]ne’s Bloodraged Death Prophet was doling out. Towers, Roshan, Barracks, Heroes; everything just melted when No[O]ne casted an Exorsism with Bloodrage applied to him. The fact that he had managed to farm up a BKB and a Hood of Defiance didn’t help Keen Gaming who had drafted themselves a predominantly Magic Damage heavy lineup with an Ember and Mirana as their cores.
The Schedule for Day 2
October 27
15:30 IST | 18:00 SGT Newbee vs Team Secret [BO3]
19:15 IST | 21:45 SGT Team Liquid vs Virtus.Pro [BO3]
10:30 IST | 01:00 SGT Fnatic vs EG (Elimination match) [BO3]