The first day of the 64-team Esports World Cup open qualifier came to an end with NADE securing the upset over Eternal Fire in a three-map series, with Samet "jottAAA" Köklü and company becoming the only big name to find themselves in the elimination matches on Saturday.
After the first eight groups played out the first two rounds earlier on Friday, groups 9-16 took to the server for just their openers.
Most favorites passed their first test without much difficulty, with the likes of Liquid, NRG, and 100 Thieves — the latter led by Jack "Gizmy" von Spreckelsen's 2.85-rated performance — all securing comfortable 2-0 victories.
Virtus.pro also beat Sangal 2-0 in what was one of the more even matches on paper, while FOKUS needed overtime to get the better of Partizan on Inferno.
There are a plethora of matches set to be played on Saturday before we reach the playoffs. Standout matches include K27 vs. SINNERS, FOKUS vs. Sashi, and Liquid vs. Metizport, with the entire schedule available here.
Sashi
Frederik 'acoR' Gyldstrand
Casper 'Cabbi' Jensen
Rasmus 'Zyphon' Nordfoss
Anton 'Anlelele' Huynh
Mikkel 'MistR' Thomsen
Nicolai 'HUNDEN' Petersen
Liquid
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Georgi 'Jorko' Mitev
Viktor 'flashie' Tamás Bea
NRG
Nick 'nitr0' Cannella
Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli
Michael 'Grim' Wince
Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott
Damian 'daps' Steele
Eternal Fire
Alexander 'br0' Bro
Gareth 'MisteM' Ries
Iulian 'regali' Harjău
Vladyslav 'Kvem' Korol
Samet 'jottAAA' Köklü
Yiğit 'yT' Özden
NADE
Omer 'Explo1nt' Ismaili
Erjon 'vapeh' Shemshiu
Usama 'USAMA' Bajrami
Avni 'wwildmashina' Salii
Isa 'userxduser' Miftari
SINNERS
Sebastian 'beastik' Daňo
Max 'SHOCK' Kvapil
Mădălin-Andrei 'MoDo' Mirea
Kamil 'kisserek' Banak
Jordan 'stressarN' Manevski
Jakub 'Bfull' Kokoška
100 Thieves
Nicolai 'device' Reedtz
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard
Jack 'Gizmy' von Spreckelsen
William 'sirah' Kjærsgaard
Alex 'poiii' Nyholm Sundgren
Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander
FOKUS
Erik 'ztr' Gustafsson
Matias 'Banjo' Kivistö
Paavo 'podi' Heiskanen
Jacob 'jocab' Nerheden
Mateo 'Matheos' Prišlin
Jakub 'kuben' Gurczyński
Virtus.pro
Nikolay 'mir' Bityukov
Vladimir 'b1st' Krasikov
Dias 'F0R3VER' Kutubay
Aleksandr 'AquaRS' Kovalev
Vadim 'tO0RO' Arkov
Dmitriy 'ProbLeM' Martinov
Jack 'Gizmy' von Spreckelsen
Samet 'jottAAA' Köklü
Metizport
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz
Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora
Maciej 'F1KU' Miklas
David 'forsyy' Bílý
Liam 'MaiL09' Tügel
Vincent 'vinS' Jozefiak
K27
Timur 'clax' Sabirov
Daniil 'X5G7V' Maryshev
Aleksey 'xeedo' Mikulich
Danila 'kashl1d' Dronov
Daniil 'qw1nk1' Kabilov
Gregory 'balblna' Oleinick
Sangal
Adam 'adamS' Marian
Bartosz 'bnox' Niebisz
Luka 'puuha' Eklund
Selman 'R4DYX' Ozan
Yeray 'Joey' Serrano Pérez
Jimmy 'Jumpy' Berndtsson
Partizan
Petar 'zecco' Živanović
Filip 'Dyrod' Ivanković
Miloš 'DotlA' Dotlić
Rajko 'rajkeza' Zec
Luka 'm1traa' Mitrović
Dejan 'BAXACHA' Atanacković