The Kiev Major is underway. Sixteen of the world’s best teams have gathered to determine who the strongest team in the world is only a few months before The International. Valve have decided to try something new during the group stage of the Major and introduced a Swiss-system tournament format to decide seeding into the main event. IG will be looking to build on their win at DAC and OG will be trying to get their 4th Major championship. While there has been no major patch between DAC and the Kiev Major the meta has already subtly shifted over that period of time. The Lifestealer which dominated DAC has only been picked 10 times so far in Kiev with a 20% win rate overall. We’ve also seen much less focus on Magnus and Alchemist during drafts overall.
The first day of the group stage ended with Secret and IG going undefeated, winning both of their games 2-0 while TNC and VP joined them with a total score of 4-1. During TNC’s 2-1 win over Thunderbirds Raven broke the record for most kills during a Valve event, going 33-3-6 on his Spectre. The Brazilian squad SG e-sports started off with a surprise game win against OG in their first series and while OG battled back to win 2-1 it was a promising start for SG. EG struggled during their first two matches against the teams from the SEA region dropping their first match to TNC 2-0 and nearly losing to Faceless in the second round. The first day ended with SG, Faceless, Mouz, and IG.V in the bottom 4 with the risk of facing the top seed in the first round of the main event if they couldn’t pull off a win during day 2 of the group stage.
Day 2 opened with Secret continuing to look great, pulling off a 2-0 victory over IG putting themselves in the highest seed without losing a single game. VP also secured their top spot by beating TNC 2-0 with a terrific performance from No[o]ne’s Magnus in the first game. On the lower side of the Swiss bracket IG.V went up against Mouz while Faceless took on SG e-sports to determine who would have to face VP and Secret in the first round of the main event. Mouz quickly set out to prove they were the stronger team and dispatched IG.V 2-0. Faceless had a bit more trouble against SG but with the first Arc Warden win of the tournament in game 1 and a comeback in game 2 that happened so quickly even the casters were confused they took down SG 2-0.
As the group stage wrapped up we saw Team Random continue their downward spiral as they finished 1-3 overall. While this is distressing it should be said that they managed to take games off OG and VP in their losses against them. In the other matches in the lower rounds Liquid salvaged their group stage by defeating Faceless 2-0 and ended 2-2 after all was said and done. In Mouz vs VG.J, VG.J came out on top in two wins that featured rOtk’s offlane Omniknight. In the high rounds IG came back from a game 1 loss against EG and with the help of Boboka’s Riki in game 3 secured a 2-1 victory. OG went up against Thunderbirds and after losing their first game pulled out the mid Alchemist in games 2 and 3 for Notail and Ana and managed to clinch the series. While DC came into the event as a question mark in terms of how well they’d perform after the group stage it’s safe to say they’re a very dangerous team capable of taking down anybody in a bo3. They ended the group stage 2-2 after losing to TNC in a close 2-1 series. More impressive were TNC themselves as they worked their way to a 3-1 overall finish during the group stage after their win over DC.
If all of this seems confusing and hard to follow, it is, don’t worry about it. Here’s the table which shows where the teams ended up at the end of the group stage.
That was perhaps one of the worst series in group stage. Both game 2 and game 3 took way longer than they should, featuring scrappy misplays from both sides.
What a crazy group stage. Hoping for a Secret EG quarters. IG.Vitality needs to fire their captain ASAP. Been too long of mediocrity with that kinda talent.
On April 26 2017 07:43 KoKurenai wrote: mouz vs NB game 3 recommended?
That was perhaps one of the worst series in group stage. Both game 2 and game 3 took way longer than they should, featuring scrappy misplays from both sides.
entertaining games don't always have to be the best played that game was pretty enjoyable to watch even with the errors
On April 26 2017 08:47 Aldehyde wrote: VP vs TNC recommended game links to TNC vs DC. Is it the title or the game that's wrong?
Either way, haven't been able to follow the games too closely but I am hoping OG manages to plug up their holes for the main event.
nope that was just my mistake! thanks for pointing it out
TNC's 3-1 feels worthless considering they are match up against the worse team they could've been matched
despite Faceless getting recked by everybody they read TNC like a damn book. I can't remember the last time TNC won a series against Faceless lately lol
On April 26 2017 17:07 goody153 wrote: TNC's 3-1 feels worthless considering they are match up against the worse team they could've been matched
despite Faceless getting recked by everybody they read TNC like a damn book. I can't remember the last time TNC won a series against Faceless lately lol
TNC has never won a bo3 against Faceless but did have won one bo1 win and took a game in the bo3 during the Kiev Major Qualifier so Faceless is something like 7-2 in total against them.
On April 26 2017 17:07 goody153 wrote: TNC's 3-1 feels worthless considering they are match up against the worse team they could've been matched
despite Faceless getting recked by everybody they read TNC like a damn book. I can't remember the last time TNC won a series against Faceless lately lol
TNC has never won a bo3 against Faceless but did have won one bo1 win and took a game in the bo3 during the Kiev Major Qualifier so Faceless is something like 7-2 in total against them.
oh man this feels so bad
whatever i still have other teams to cheer on and hey maybe FL gets motivated after beating TNC on the playoffs that they do well against their next series
On April 26 2017 17:07 goody153 wrote: TNC's 3-1 feels worthless considering they are match up against the worse team they could've been matched
despite Faceless getting recked by everybody they read TNC like a damn book. I can't remember the last time TNC won a series against Faceless lately lol
TNC has never won a bo3 against Faceless but did have won one bo1 win and took a game in the bo3 during the Kiev Major Qualifier so Faceless is something like 7-2 in total against them.
oh man this feels so bad
whatever i still have other teams to cheer on and hey maybe FL gets motivated after beating TNC on the playoffs that they do well against their next series
Truthfully I think TNC might have the edge on them here considering how Faceless is playing and some of the inner workings inside the team which will be revealed after this Major finishes. This could be TNC's moment to beat em!
On April 26 2017 11:30 DucK- wrote: Shit luck for tnc. But if you want to do well, you must be prepared to beat anybody, especially your bogey team.
Yeah, Faceless got their best possible draw and TNC got their worse. TNC could go far, as long as they can somehow beat Faceless which always seems to beat them.
EPT
that game was pretty enjoyable to watch even with the errors 
