Day 2 of IEM Chengdu brought the action to its peak, building on the performances of Day 1. Surprises exist from FaZe, NAVI took away some big names from the playoffs, while the likes of MOUZ and Astralis pulled off head-turning wins, concluding an exciting day at Chengdu.
Falcons, Astralis, MOUZ, and Furia are through to the next round of play, while MongolZ, Vitality, G2, and Spirit will need another win to make it through to the playoffs.
Match 1: Furia rolls over G2 Esports
G2’s pick of Train opened up the day with hunter and team starting on the offense, where they only managed 4 rounds against 8 from Furia. The Brazilian side remained equally potent on their offense as G2 picked up no more than a single round, leading to a quick conclusion of Map 1. Overpass being a much closer affair, both teams remained inseparable till the first overtime, after which Furia edged out a close win to go 2-0 in the series and through to the playoffs. G2 are not eliminated, but another loss will see them head out of the event.
Match 2: Lynn Vision upset 3DMAX
Solid start for Lynn Vision despite 3DMAX being the heavy favourites. Levelled scoreline for both halves of regulation before the home team pulled ahead with close margins in overtime, taking away the first map. Their early lead in the series was leveled in the 2nd map. The first half of Inferno saw Lynn Vision stay in the lead before the flawless defense from 3DMAX in the second half levelled the series scoreline, taking us to the third map. Lynn Vision, for the 3rd time in the series, closed the first half of the 3rd map with a lead of 7-5. 3DMAX started stronger on the defense, but the Chinese side found their stride later in the half, which not only led to a comeback but a smooth conclusion to the 3rd map and caused the second of the day.
Match 3: VP pulls off shocking comeback against FaZe
FaZe brushed off their shaky start to the campaign and bulldozed VP to start overpass. Having let a single round slip, FaZe pulled in 11 rounds to get off to a stunning start. Swapping sides, they let 8 rounds slip in typical FaZe fashion, making the game closer than it should have been, but their large buffer of rounds left them enough room to close the game before things got sweaty. The second map of Mirage saw VP pull ahead in the first half and lead with a scoreline of 8-4. The second half started with VP running all over FaZe, where they managed no more than one round, and letting Vitality close out the map, and pushing it to a 3rd map with a dominant scoreline of 13-5. The final map, Inferno, started with both teams trading blows for blows for the entirety of the first half before VP turned the tables on their defense in the second half. FaZe, having managed a single round, failed to cause any further dents to the VP defense as the CIS side eliminated FaZe from Chengdu.
Match 4: MOUZ upset Vitality
Starting on their own map pick of the train, MOUZ managed a stunning 9 rounds before pulling off a flawless 2nd half to set the tone of the series in dominant fashion. Having secured the opening map, MOUZ started on the defense in Nuke in the round where it was Vitality’s turn to dominate, which saw them walk away with an 8-4 lead before a closely tied second half saw Vitality level the score of the series. The final map of Inferno is where the action peaked, with neither team bowing down. It took three overtimes on top of regulation for MOUZ to put together a few rounds and push the game over the line and making it to the next stage of IEM Chengdu.
Match 5: Heroic outlasts NAVI
Starting on the offense on Nuke, Heroic came up with a convincing score line before a near-flawless offense from NAVI put the map to bed. But Heroic pulled off a similar move on NAVI in the following map and levelled the series before taking us to a 3rd map. Inseparable for the entirety of the first half, both teams entered the second half of the final map with 6 rounds to their name before a 5-round streak from Heroic bulldozed the NAVI defense and went into a prime position to close the series, which they did after dropping two more rounds and eliminating NAVI from IEM Chengdu.
Match 6: Falcons make quick work of Spirit
Falcons got on the board after converting a force buy to start the first map. Winning their first round, they went on to post a 7-round streak and pulled in two more before the end of the half. Rock-solid defense from them was complemented by an equally potent offense in Dust 2 that lost only one round before pulling the curtains on the first map. The second map, Ancient, was arguably the best map of the day, where both teams showed domination in certain phases of the game. A 9-3 lead on the defense from Spirit got matched by a solid defense played by Falcons to take the game to overtime after converting a do-or-die round in the final round of regulation. Over time, it was where the Falcons pulled ahead, winning all but one round to close out the series and making it to the next round of play.
FaZe Clan’s new roster is yet to hit the ground running, and with the Major approaching, there is no time to experiment. NAVI, on the other hand, will need aggressive steps to get back on top, and as things stand, the path forward is unclear. The likes of G2 and Vitality losing to opponents they should not, calls for introspection, given one more loss would see them out of the event, which might impact their confidence heading into the Major. Day 2 wraps with a few obvious results and a few surprises, but an overall exciting day at IEM for the fans.