Dominance from the Americas: Shanghai Opening Stage recap
If we'd have told you a week ago that only two European teams would make it out of the Perfect World Shanghai Major Opening Stage, you'd have called us crazy.
And honestly, we wouldn't blame you, but that's exactly what happened as European teams crashed out left, right, and center and only GamerLegion and BIG advanced.
An RMR dominated by teams from the Americas, let's take a look at every to to advance.
The 3-0 teams
We might have said that the Americas were dominant in the Opening Stage, but no team was as dominant as The MongolZ.
The Mongolian squad blitzed the Opening Stage, they qualified after losing just 15 rounds across four maps.
With wins against Rare Atom, MIBR, and GamerLegion, they made light work of the competition and now look like a deadly force heading into the Elimination Stage.
Photo: Michal KonkolThe other 3-0 team was Liquid, who qualified in a mildly shakier manner.
Twistzz's team had to comeback from 9-3 down in their opening game against Cloud9, and followed that up with another close match against Wildcard.
They eventually qualified thanks to a 2-1 win against FlyQuest, but even in that game they had to bounce back from being battered 13-5 on the first map.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenThe 3-1 teams
Two of the teams advancing with a 3-1 record are Brazilian, paiN and FURIA.
FalleN and co. looked strong, they bounced back from an opening defeat to GamerLegion to keep their composure in three close games against Imperial, Wildcard, and BIG.
paiN also picked up a win against Brazilian rivals Imperial, they sat them down 13-5 in their opening match.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenThat win was followed by a loss to GamerLegion, but they soon recovered to advance after a win against Cloud9 and a 2-0 win over FlyQuest.
The final 3-1 was GamerLegion, continuing their strong form after going 0-2 down in their RMR.
They began the tournament 2-0 with wins over FURIA and paiN, but were simply no match for The MongolZ as they were easily pushed aside.
However, that didn't matter too much, they qualified in their very next game thanks to a 2-1 win over Ukrainian team, Passion UA.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenThe 3-2 teams
Onto the dreaded 2-2 bracket, the games absolutely no one wants to be in.
The first 2-2 game was contested between BIG and Complexity, a match which was eventually won by the Germans.
A torrid series for Grim and floppy, they were constantly caught out by BIG as the Germans secured their advancement with a 2-1 win.
Photo: Michal KonkolWe then saw MIBR take on FlyQuest, a very one-sided series that saw FlyQuest not even pick up ten rounds across the two maps as they were sent packing without a whimper.
An embarrassing collapse for them after being one map win away from advancing, they'll be kicking themselves that they couldn't convert against Liquid.
However, it was another strong series from MIBR, and they now look set to be a dangerous underdog in the Elimination Stage.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenThe final team to advance to the next stage was Wildcard, they did so with a win over Passion UA.
A banger game, the first two maps showed the strength of either team, and the third was pushed to overtime as both teams desperately tried to keep their place in the Major.
Eventually, it was susp and stanislaw that proved to be the strongest, the two Wildcard men picked up 27 kills each in that final map to send their team through.