After delays for about an hour, the matches finally started and the tournament is running smooth so far. As expected, a few teams didn't show up or were unable to attend due to visa or not getting their trip paid. Most of the favorites passed the groupstage and you can expect to see some top matches in the second groupstage really soon.

Group A

Only three out of four teams showed up, NiceOne was not able to attend and therefor three default wins were given out already. Other than that, MYM and Virtus.Pro (playing under pro100) convincingly won their matches and everyone was looking forward to the big match between those two.

In the end, Virtus managed to beat MYM with only 16-13 showing the strength of both teams. This means Virtus is getting a better seed as first placed in their group.

Group B

Made in Brazil also won all of their matches as expected but had a hard time with the French team Millenium on de_dust2 winning with only 16-14. Other than that, they then beat dignitas with 16-2 again coming out on top of their group followed by Dignitas.

Group C

Pretty clear results throughout the whole group but different teams winning except for mousesports. Mousesports lost only 10 rounds in three matches and get the top seed for Groupstage II. The three other teams basically share the second spot having 1-0-3 but LowLandLions have the best round difference, making them advance.

Group D

Again only three out of four teams showed up and two favorites were already clear before. With mTw being first and Frag eXecutors second, nothing more is to add here.

Group E

The most interesting group was actually this one before the matches started. The Greek team of Vatos Locos were supposed to be the underdog and surprise during the tournament but they failed to do so. Losing all of their matches make them go home with a 0-0-3 score.

Other than that, the big match between fnatic and Alternate was spectacular to watch. Being played on fnatics probably strongest map, de_train, Alternate managed to pull off a great victory winning with 16-13 and advance as first placed team in their group.

Group F

Again only three out of four teams but those remaining three teams were all favorites to go through. First emuLate beat Team EG US and then roccat beat them too right away. This meant an early knockout for the US team not being able to convince once again and with an updated lineup.

Roccat also managed to beat emuLate on de_dust2 with 16-13 after being down 4-11 before. They had a big win-streak which somehow happens very often for emuLate not being able to get their needed rounds on de_dust2.

Group G

Actually SK Sweden and wNv.CN were the favorites before, but shortly before the tournament started it was announced that wNv's player Wu 'sakula' Runbo will not make it to the United States due to visa problems. This meant wNv was weakened having to use a stand-in and were unable to advance to the second groupstage.

Still SK Sweden are one of the big favorites for the tournament win and passed the groupstage by winning all of their matches.

Group H

Even though e-STRO was the big favorite here, they got beaten by x3o which maybe surprised some spectators. x3o is advancing to the next groupstage without any problems followed by e-STRO.

Faculty may be a bit disappointing being an underdog as EPS second placed team but even then the trip probably helped them more to gain experience rather than fighting for the big prize pot.