Cover-Credits:
The Lima Major continues to provide new surprises and upsets with Day Two of the group stage. While some of the teams managed to perform exceptionally well on the second day of the groups, it was Gaimin Gladiators & Team Liquid who were seen as the biggest winners of the day after emerging undefeated in both of their matches.
While both those teams were considered as the main highlights of the day, there were also a lot of matches and game highlights to watch from the second day of the group stage. With that in mind, here is a full recap of the events that went down on Day Two.
Lima Major 2023 Group Stage: Day Two Recap
Group A
Gladiators triumphed against the defending TI champion
Gaimin Gladiators continued its conquest of securing an Upper Bracket slot for the playoffs with dominance as it secured a 2-0 clean sweep against EHOME & the current TI (The International 2022) champion, Tundra Esports.
While many expected the Gladiators to easily dispatch EHOME, nobody would have expected the team to defeat Tundra Esports in convincing fashion.
Talon Esports stepping up to the plate
Despite having to accept a draw against South American (SA) team Evil Geniuses, Talon Esports' win against TSM saw the team finish the day in second place behind Gaimin Gladiators.
TSM put up a tough fight during its series against Talon, however the Southeast Asian (SEA) team had better coordination and chemistry compared to its North American (NA) counterparts.
PSG.LGD and EHOME continue to suffer on Day 2
The Chinese representatives in Group A, PSG.LGD & EHOME, both ended Day Two in the bottom three of the standings, putting them in danger of being eliminated from the Major should they continue on their current path.
While PSG.LGD understandably had a rough day as it drew against rivals Team Spirit, EHOME was only able to secure a draw against Execration, after it was unable to defeat Gaimin Gladiators.
Group B
Team Liquid asserts dominance over Group B
While Team Liquid had a decent start yesterday, Day Two saw the team taking its form to the next level as it defeated both Knights & Entity in a clean sweep with Micha "Nisha" Jankowski once again taking the spotlight in both series.
Team Liquid only has 1 series tomorrow and many within the community highly expect the team to finish the Lima Major as a top contender for the championship title.
SabeRLight- gets one over Entity once again
While the match between Shopify Rebellion & Entity had nothing on the line, Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek’s comedic antics struck again as he faced his former friends at Entity.
While the banter between SabeRLight- & Entity was purely for entertainment purposes, the latter was forced to admit defeat after a 0-2 loss against SabeRLight- 's current team.
Knights in turmoil with its third consecutive loss in the group stage match
At first glance, Knights was considered to be a potential dark horse team by many, despite the team’s ongoing controversies, after managing to qualify for the Lima Major with a rather convincing performance in the regional league.
After Day Two of the group stages, Knights was the only team that did not win a single game after being rolled by Geek Slate & Team Liquid. However, the team still has sufficient time to turn things around in the next three days before it is too late.
Day Two of the Lima Major Group Stage provided a lot of interesting storylines as well as new heroes being picked and more upsets being shown. We will continue to have more action tomorrow as Day Three of the Group Stage will begin at 11:00 PM SGT. You can check out the schedule and results of all the Lima Major games through AFK Gaming's event tracker below.
