This article is part of our CS:GO Recap series.
The first day of the StarSeries Season 3 Finals, taking place in Kiev, Ukraine, kicked off on Tuesday, with 16 of the best teams in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive from around the world competing to take home their share of the $300,000 prize pool. Here is how Day 1 of the Swiss format played out.
North started the action with a crushing victory over Brazilian-side Immortals. The match on Cobblestone started with North shutting down a stacked B-bombsite for the Round 1 win, though Immortals immediately followed up with a round win of its own. North came out on top on the offensive end with a commanding 12-3 round lead going into the half, giving North full control. The Danes started off hot on the defensive side and never looked back as Immortals were blown out in four rounds for a 16-3 victory, led by Philip "aizy" Aistrup, who dominated with a 19/10 KD (kills/deaths) and 114.0 ADR (average damage per round).
Virtus Pro was next to join the action, plowing through the Korean squad MVP Project on Mirage. While the Koreans jumped ahead of the Poles early on, taking the first pistol round and two more to follow for a quick 3-0 lead, the Virtus Plow struck back, taking the next five rounds. While MVP Project took the last round of the half, Virtus Pro was dominant in its 11-4 first half. The Koreans looked to bounce back in the second half but the offense of MVP Project was no match against Virtus Pro's stifling defense, completing a five round blowout to take the game 16-4.
SK Gaming and TyLoo then clashed on Mirage, both teams looking to pick up the next win in the Swiss format. The Chinese-based TyLoo started on the offensive, winning the first pistol round by punishing an aggressive SK mistake on the B-bombsite. SK came swinging back, mounting their momentum off of Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo's Scout kills to win the force-buy and following two rounds. TyLoo showed no mercy as it eased past the Brazilians with five rounds to take the lead 6-3. SK managed to string together a couple of rounds but TyLoo kept the pressure on SK to take a lead 8-7at the half. TyLoo got off to a great start in the second half, winning the pistol round and the next round to follow. SK didn't give up, though, taking the lead briefly after a short spurt of round wins before the score got tied up once again. This time, the Brazilians took control on it's offensive second half to power past TyLoo for a hard-fought 16-12 win.
HellRaisers made noise on Tuesday against FaZe Clan in a shocking upset over the multi-national European squad on Cache. The match began with HellRaisers flawlessly taking the initial pistol round on defense, though FaZe replied with a force-buy to tie the game early. From there, FaZe Clan won four more to take a 5-1 lead, until HellRaisers' Vladyslav "bondik" Nechyporchuk put his team back in the game with a brilliant boost to slow the offense of FaZe. HellRaisers surged on the momentum of bondik's boost, closing out a 9-6 lead heading into the second half. HellRaisers controlled the second half despite a late FaZe comeback of four straight round wins, disrupting FaZe's all-stars to give HellRaisers the 16-10 win.
G2 made headlines on Tuesday, decimating the Swedish Ninjas in Pyjamas in the French squad's debut. G2 started on the defense end against NiP on Inferno, taking the Swedes down one-by-one to start the match. G2 quickly gained a strong economy, allowing it to run a double-sniper setup which led to an early 8-0 lead. NiP responded with only two round wins as the Frenchmen gave the Swedes no room for error, taking the first half with a score of 13-2. NiP tried to fight its way back, picking up a few rounds to start the second half but the match came crashing down when the G2 offense picked up a sniper rifle. Using the long range death-dealer to open up bomb sites, G2 comfortably took Inferno 16-6.
Day 2 action will kick off on Wednesday at 4:00 AM ET on Twitch with Gambit and TyLoo looking to capture their first wins of the tournament.
