Following Day one of competion at the GFinity Summer Championship, teams that won early on looked to secure their spot in the championship bracket right away. Others that had lost the night before faced elimination but knew they still had a chance to get into the money.
Please note that not every match could be covered due to the fact two matches were always being played at once. The recaps seen will be those on main stage, since those are the ones GFinity wanted us to see.
eLevate 3-0 Epsilon.EU
Although the 3-0 map count doesn't show for it, this was actually a very close series that could have went either way. The series started on Bio Lab Hardpoint where Epsilon opened up a 40 point lead in the first minute. By the third hill though, it was knotted up thanks to Slasher from eLevate dropping 45 kills. It went down to the wire but eLevate would pull it off 229-211. Coming back on Detroit SND, it was another nail-biter. it went down to Round 11 where eLevate was able to sweep away Epsilon to take the map 6-5. They moved to Comeback Uplink where Epsilon hoped to make a comeback. They took a nice lead in the first half but on the second side, eLevate was able to bring it back They tied at 12-12 and went to overtime. Then eLevate threw a trick play in with some great passing to score a throw in 16 seconds, a time that Epsilon could not beat and eLevate would take the series with a 1-0 overtime win.
FaZe 3-0 Infused
FaZe came out and got a shock right away. They probably didn't expect Infused to come out so strong. It looked like Infused might start to pull away with the Bio Lab Hardpoint but a strong hold of the blue hill for FaZe helped them clutch up to take the 1-0 series lead with a 207-182 win. Game 2 wasn't as close but it could have been different. Had infused played Detroit SND more agressive, they could have stole this map. Ovverall, FaZe ended up taking it 6-2 and held a 2-0 series lead. On Comeback Uplink, Infused came out playing fast and once again built a lead on FaZe in the first half. But come the second half, the whole FaZe squad came around and put Infused down for a 18-12 win. But make no mistake about, Infused came out ready to play, and could have came away with the win had small things gone their way.
TCM 2-3 OpTic Nation
A close series was expected between these two teams. No one could have predicted how it went down. OpTic Nation would come out of the gates thunderously and would decimate every sign of TCM. Bio Lab Hardpoint ended almost 3 minutes before the time limit because OpTic Nation had put on a beatdown, 250-67. Game 2 would turn the tide in favor of TCM. They took care of every awkward position like the veterans they are. They took the map 6-2 to tie the series 1-1. On Comeback Uplink, the game would start as yet another demolition. OpTic Nation went out to an early 8-0 lead and could have hit the score limit, but Ricky of OpTic Nation would kill his teammate and prevent this. TCM would bring it back to 9-5. They would come within two points of Nation at one point but couldn't finish the deal. Nation would win 15-12 and take a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 was Retreat Hardpoint and OpTic Nation got back out to a fast start. The difference this time was that TCM was able to real them back in. Led by Aches, TCM was able to hold the Attic hill both times around, and big plays by Moose helped seal the deal in a 207-188 win to force game 5. Sadly for TCM, their luck in Game 5 has be awful. And it showed again today. They were under complete assault from Nation through the entire Solar SND en route to a 6-1 slaughter of TCM to take the series 3-2.
OpTic Gaming 3-2 EnVyUs
OpTic Gaming had a sloppy day but managed to pull through once again.They started off by taking a nice lead on Bio Lab Hardpoint despite the fact that Scumpii started slow at 8-16. Luckily, Karma was on his game and it was needed. EnVy took advantage of two cold streaks from OpTic to try and close the gap but the might of OpTic was too strong and they took the map 247-202. On Detroit SND, OpTic just looked lost. The fact they made it look close might say something about how sad EnVy truly is at SND. OpTic were too passive and constantly blew opportunities when they had a clear advantage. EnVy would win the map 6-4 to tie the series 1-1. On Comeback Uplink, EnVy came out with momentum. They would score a dunk within 15 seconds. By the time OpTic finally regained composure, they were down by 9 points at the half. EnVy would cruise on to win the map 15-4 and take a surprising 2-1 series lead. OpTic would look to come back strong on Retreat Hardpoint with a emphatic performance to command each hill. They wanted to bounce back right and did it with a 220-150 win to send the series to game 5. In game 5 on Solar SND, EnVy came out to a 2-1 lead early on. Then Formal was stuck in a 1v2 situation was able to pop the two-piece to set the game even at 2-2. The following round, Aqua would accomplish the same feat to put EnVy back up 3-2. But yet the next round, Scumpii would pull off the third straigh 1v2 to tie the game 3-3. Riding the momentum from Scump, OpTic began to pull away. In round 9, we were left in a 1v1 situation between Crimsix from OpTic and Loony from EnVy. The two would have an encounter in the middle of the map and Crim would come out on top to give OpTic the victory.
The winners of these four matches were given the rest of the day off while the losers would have to play through another team in their pool to get into the championship bracket. Those matches were happening at the same time as the matches above. Here are the results: Hyper 3-1 VwS, Team Kaliber 3-0 Liquid, Rise Nation 3-0 IGI, Vitality.Storm 3-0 Spirit. The winners of these matches would set up qualification matches. Here's how it went down.
Epsilon.EU 3-0 Rise Nation
In a rematch from day one, Epsilon looked to gain their revenge - the American squad Rise. It was funny being that some of the maps in this match were used in their first meeting that went the distance. In Solar Hardpoint, Epsilon wanted to take revenge for the way Rise destroyed them the day before. They did so in convincing fashion as they would outslay Rise to a similar amount that Rise had done to them the day before. Epsilon went up 1-0 in the series. In Game 2 on Recovery SND, the two teams battled to Round 11 for the second straight time. Epsilon tried their fast push down A street again but saw no one to kill, and actually went down 3v4 early in the round. But when Rise went to plant the bomb, Epsilon converged on Rise and whipped them. Epsilon would take a 6-5 victory on Recovery against Rise for the second straight day. Game 3 would be where Epsilon ended the tournament life of Rise Nation. It was even for most of the first half, but Epsilon started to pull away towards the end of the first 5 minutes. They would maintain their advantage throughout the second half to win 9-6 and take a 3-0 series win.
Vitality.Storm 3-0 TCM
Another rematch from yesterday would turn the opposite way today. Vitality came out firing early after rumors of TCM having bad teamwork. They wanted to take advantage of this and put pressure on TCM. And when the pressure was on late in Solar Hardpoing for game 1, Vitality managed to take it with a strong hold on the final hill. They took the W 205-178. Game 2 on Recovery SND, it looked like TCM were just under-practiced on this map. Being that Recovery has only just came back to the map rotation, it's no surprise. But Vitality punished TCM for this with a 6-3 win. For game 3 on Detroit Uplink, TCM actually had a good first half. They went into the second side leading 2-1 and heading onto the more advantageous side of the map. But listening to the TCM communication, they seemed out of it even while winning, but Vitality were getting hyped up. This was a key factor in Vitality pulling a comeback to win the map 6-3 and win the series 3-0, securing their spot in the bracket and sending TCM home with nothing.
As for the matches we couldn't cover: EnVyUs 3-0 Hyper, Infused 3-1 Team Kaliber.
After play was done for the day, GFinity had their live bracket draw done by random. The top half of the bracket will have eLevate - Infused and FaZe - EnVyUs. The bottom half of the bracket has OpTic Nation - Epsilon.EU and OpTic Gaming - Vitality.Storm. Looking at these matchups, every scenario possible has the potential to be great. Championship Sunday looks like it's in for a great show.
