The second day of the ELeague Major was filled with upsets and thrilling finishes as teams looked to finish strong in the Swiss Format Bracket. Here's how Day 2 played out.
Mousesports and HellRaisers started out the day on Cache with the two multi-national teams looking to pick up their first win. Mousesports' Nikola "NiKo" Kovač led the team to a dominating start on the defensive side, pulling out a 12-3 lead over HellRaisers at the half. However, HellRaisers battled their way back, holding off mousesports with concrete defenses of their own in the second half. Although HellRaisers took four rounds away from mouz in the second half, mousesports would slam the door with a 16-7 win. HellRaisers are now 0-2 and just one loss away from elimination.
Natus Vincere and EnVyUs were up next, looking to end the second day undefeated. Despite losing the first pistol round on defense, Natus Vincere gambled their chances with an early buy that would stop the EnVyUs economy from developing. As a result, the CIS team gave them no room for error, taking the first half with a convincing 12-3 lead. Much like the first half, Natus Vincere tried their chances at yet another force buy early on with Egor "flamie" Vasilyev standing tall for a quad kill. EnVyUs only accounted for three rounds won in the second half, which gave Natus Vincere their 16-6 win.
SK Gaming and FaZe Clan were the first teams of Day 2 to go into a thrilling overtime joust, with SK Gaming taking down FaZe Clan. FaZe Clan came out of the gates on the offensive side with a quick 4-0 lead over SK. However, SK managed to slowly crawl back within range to take the lead, but FaZe Clan still took the first half with a 9-6 finish. The second half was a mirror to the first as FaZe Clan took the lead early on, despite a match point scenario for SK. However, SK Gaming rallied back for six consecutive rounds to send the game into overtime. FaZe Clan took the first round, but couldn't penetrate SK's defense late for a 19-17 loss. SK Gaming will now advance onto Day 2 holding a firm 2-0 record while FaZe Clan hold on to a 1-1 shot for a qualification.
A familiar matchup between two Season 2 finalists Astralis and OpTic Gaming squared off as both teams looked to end the day with a 1-1 record. Astralis stood strong on defense with the first two rounds taken away from the Green Wall. However, OpTic Gaming went for an early buy that came up huge for the team, with three straight rounds won to take the lead and an economic advantage. OpTic Gaming kept the pressure as they held onto a 6-2 lead. Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz gave Astralis all the momentum it needed with a triple kill and a 1 vs. 1 against Óscar "mixwell" Cañellas that led up to an 8-7 lead for the Danes. The Green Wall was no match in the second half against dev1ce's AWP that cracked open the bomb sites for a confident 16-12 win. Astralis survive Day 2 with a 1-1 record; however, OpTic Gaming fall 0-2.
The day ended with another thrilling finish between the two veteran teams of Virtus.pro and G2, with Virtus.pro squeezing out a win. G2 started with a quick 2-0 lead before getting hit by Virtus.Pro's offense. Filip "NEO" Kubski started the momentum for Virtus.pro in the fifth round by single-handedly winning a 1 vs. 3 with nothing but a pistol. From there, Virtus.pro won five out of the seven rounds for a 7-5 scoreline before G2 came back to win three to take a narrow 8-7 at the half. Alexandre "bodyy" Pianaro started the second half off right for G2 getting a quad kill to put his team further ahead. G2 won five of the first seven rounds to put the Polish Plow in danger of a sweep. However, Virtus.pro stood strong on defense to hold out for a 16-14 win and 2-0 record.