ESL One Hamburg 2019: China Number One - ViCi Gaming stand strong to top the charts in Group A

ViCi Gaming proved their credentials as one of the top contenders heading into this tournament as they dominated Day 1 of the group stages not dropping a single game and claiming the number one spot on Group A with a 4-0 win-loss record.

A big part of their success was Xiong "Pyw"' Jiahan who introduced himself to the big leagues with a stellar showing in all four games and proved himself to be a worthy successor in the Pos-4 role for the Chinese team.

Their biggest test of the group stages will be against Alliance in their first series of Day 2. A clean 2-0 showing there would guarantee their spot in the playoffs.

After a season-defining showing at The International 9, many expected beastcoast to finally evolve into the first major South American force in the landscape of the DPC. However, their performance on Day 1 left a lot to be desired.

They opened up the day with an 0-2 loss to Alliance. Although they showed promise in Game 2, they ultimately lacked the composure and gameplan to close out the game, allowing the

to make their way back into the game and secure the series 2-0.

Their second 2-0 series loss against ViCi Gaming proved that the South Americans still had a long way to go before being able to take it to the big guns in the Pro Circuit.

However, with arguably their two hardest fixtures out of the way, beastcoast can look to recover and gain some ground when they face off against the Fighting Pandas and Virtus.Pro on their second day.

Both Fighting Pepegas and Virtus.Pro had mixed days at the office, dropping one and winning one series each. Both teams showed promise, but are still quite far away from being a polished team.

Alliance, on the other hand, continued raking up the wins before finally dropping a game in the last series of the day against Viking.GG who had a poor performance on Day 1 and are looking likely to be the last place team in this group.

Here’s how the Group A table stands on the end of Day 2.