G2 and FURIA secure semi

G2 and FURIA secured the first two semi-final spots after topping their respective groups at the end of the first day of Champions Cup Finals.

The first day at Saint Julian's began with the opening best-of-one matchups of each group, with Group A witnessing a huge surprise already as ENCE fell to Movistar Riders in a one-sided Overpass affair, with FURIA joining the Spaniards in the winners' match after narrowly beating out TYLOO on Mirage.

In Group B, Hard Legion came out on top of the Russian derby against Spirit 16-14 on Train, while G2 opened the tournament by coming back from a 3-7 start on Inferno versus BIG to set up a clash against the Svyatoslav "⁠svyat⁠" Dovbakh-led side.

G2 overcame BIG and Hard Legion en route to playoffs

As the tournament turned to the winners' matches, Movistar Riders continued to put up a fight in another uphill battle against FURIA, but the Brazilian squad beat back Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes's team after stepping up late on both maps, winning Inferno 16-10 and Nuke 16-13 to clinch the first playoffs spot.

G2 and Hard Legion followed to close out the opening day in Malta and, despite a closely-contested first half of Vertigo, the Frenchmen lived up to the status of the favorites with a straightforward second half and a convincing victory on Mirage.

Group A TEAM M P FURIA 2 6 Movistar Riders 2 3 TYLOO 1 0 ENCE 1 0 Group B TEAM M P G2 2 6 Hard Legion 2 3 Spirit 1 0 BIG 1 0

The group winners have earned a day off in Malta, where the elimination matches are up next on Friday as TYLOO, ENCE, Spirit, and BIG will fight for survival, followed by group deciders:

10:00 TYLOO vs. ENCE
13:30 Spirit vs. BIG
17:00 Movistar Riders vs. TYLOO/ENCE
20:30 Hard Legion vs. Spirit/BIG

ENCE #12 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaMiikka 'suNny' KemppiSami 'xseveN' LaasanenJere 'sergej' Salo Hard Legion #45 Semyon 'kinqie' LisitsynSvyatoslav 'svyat' DovbakhVladislav 'Krad' KravchenkoAnton 'speed4k' TitovIgor 'Forester' Bezotecheskiy Aleksandr 'zoneR' Bogatiryev Spirit #29 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevArtem 'iDISBALANCE' EgorovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev Nikolay 'Certus' Poluyanov BIG #33 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschJohannes 'nex' MagetIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşOwen 'smooya' Butterfield Spirit #29 Leonid 'chopper' VishnyakovNikolay 'mir' BityukovViktor 'sdy' OrudzhevArtem 'iDISBALANCE' EgorovBoris 'magixx' Vorobiev Svyatoslav 'svyat' Dovbakh Age: 25 Team: Hard Legion Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 349 KPR: 0.63 DPR: 0.67 BIG #33 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschJohannes 'nex' MagetIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşOwen 'smooya' Butterfield Tobias 'tow b' Herberhold Movistar Riders #30 Christian 'loWel' Garcia AntoranRajohn 'EasTor' LinatoLucas 'steel' LopesAlejandro 'alex' MasanetAlejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo Cano TYLOO #22 YuLun 'Summer' CaiHansel 'BnTeT' FerdinandYuanZhang 'Attacker' ShengHaoWen 'somebody' XuWingHei 'Freeman' Cheung FURIA #13 Henrique 'HEN1' TelesAndrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato Nicholas 'guerri' Nogueira Time is adjusted to your selected timezone ENCE #12 Aleksi 'allu' JalliJani 'Aerial' JussilaMiikka 'suNny' KemppiSami 'xseveN' LaasanenJere 'sergej' Salo Slaava 'Twista' Räsänen Movistar Riders #30 Christian 'loWel' Garcia AntoranRajohn 'EasTor' LinatoLucas 'steel' LopesAlejandro 'alex' MasanetAlejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo Cano Galder 'bladE' Barcena Lucas 'steel' Lopes Age: 26 Team: Movistar Riders Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 987 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.66 Hard Legion #45 Semyon 'kinqie' LisitsynSvyatoslav 'svyat' DovbakhVladislav 'Krad' KravchenkoAnton 'speed4k' TitovIgor 'Forester' Bezotecheskiy FURIA #13 Henrique 'HEN1' TelesAndrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoKaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato G2 #11 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković G2 #11 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNemanja 'huNter-' KovačKenny 'kennyS' SchrubFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković Damien 'maLeK' Marcel