Day one of the Cyber Sports League DOTA 2 GeForce Tournament came to a close just after 11 PM last night, closing out the first day of grueling jungle warfare, tower denials, and Meepo picks. The tournament was that of a double elimination, Captain’s mode format, with a coin flip deciding first pick. What were the teams fighting for? A chance to get a share of the AED 14,500 prize pool.
While the stream began at around 7 PM, the first game didn’t go underway until about 45 minutes later, with the initial game being fought between “Bouncy Bears” and “D’Numbers”. The match was streamed live on Twitch over on Cyber Sports League’s Channel. After a rather gruelling period of time where the game was paused, the match finally got underway with first blood being drawn by D’Numbers. This soon snowballed as the Meepo on D’Numbers’ team snatched kills left, right and centre during team fights. As a result, less than 25 minutes in, and leading by 18 kills, “GG” was called by Bouncy Bears and D’Numbers advanced to the next stage of the tournament shortly after destroying the Ancient. Bouncy Bears were in turn relegated to the Losers bracket.
D'NUMBERS sent Bouncy Bears to the Losers Bracket! MEEPO God Incoming!
LIVE: https://t.co/MgtR9TiOm3#GeforceCupME pic.twitter.com/3kvrqbnLtd— Cyber Sports League (@CSLesports) August 18, 2016
BABAN MEEPO with the QUAD KILL 1 Versus 5!
LIVE: https://t.co/MgtR9TiOm3 #DOTA2 #NVIDIA #CSLGAMING #GeforceCupME pic.twitter.com/T0q6KRkeP0— Cyber Sports League (@CSLesports) August 18, 2016
Meanwhile, a concurrently running match between “Kuwait-e” and “Noobs” saw Kuwait-e advance to the next stage and Noobs drop down to the losers bracket.
The second stage of the tournament began with the match streamed being fought between “Knownfor” and “runts”. Runts were the first to draw blood with the subsequent second kill also going for their team. However, K-for soon evened the odds, by getting two kills themselves, but while the back and forth trades continued during the first 25 minutes of the game, K-for soon got the ball rolling, leading their kill score and subsequently, their gold advantage. Alas for runts, the better draft by K-for led to slaughter after slaughter with the Radiant base soon falling, letting Knownfor advance to the next stage and knocking runts down to the loser bracket.
The concurrently held match between “m4ks” and “Q Club K”, which wasn’t streamed, saw m4ks advance to the next stage, with Q Club K being dropped down to the loser bracket.
The next match that was streamed was a fight between “E-Lab” and “D’Numbers”, and it proved to be a high-octane match with a scuffle breaking out almost immediately over a contested rune, with E-Lab getting both bounties. Less than 5 minutes in, E-Lab quickly showed dominance through a variety of team fights, drawing first blood and getting a 10-kill lead. 12 minutes in, that number more than doubled with the kill-score being 2-28 in favour of E-Lab. As a result, less than 20 minutes in, D’Numbers called “GG”, with E-Lab advancing through to the next stage, in a stunning victory that’s sure to send shivers down the spines of their opponents.
Meanwhile, SnD also cruised to victory in a match with Kuwait-e, effectively ending the day’s action for the Winner’s bracket.
However, the beginning stages of the Loser’s bracket were soon underway, with both “Bouncy Bears” and “Q Club K” fighting to stay in the tournament. Alas for Bouncy Bears, the match spelled the end of the road for them. Two kills by the Ancient Apparition on Q Club K’s team due to ganks set the stage for the rest of the match. A team wipe by Q Club K nearly 14 minutes into the game cemented the fact, giving them a 12,000 gold lead. Despite a desperate bid to catch any of the Q Club K team members on their own, Bouncy Bears ultimately only secured 2 kills in a match that saw Q Club K dominate with a 27-kill lead. Just over 22 minutes in, GG was called and Bouncy Bears were left behind in the dust as Q Club K advanced. “Runts” who were simultaneously battling it out with “noobs” also advanced to the next stage of the Losers bracket.
Day two of the Cyber Sports League DOTA 2 GeForce tournament continues today, Friday the 19th at 3PM over on Cyber Sports League’s Twitch channel. You can watch all of Day One’s matches here and see a detailed schedule of the matches here.
The recap for the second and final day of the tournament can be found here.
