This article is part of our Dota 2 Recap series.
The second day of the Kiev Major main event concluded Friday with the remaining four first-round matches and top-seeded Team Secret found itself on the outside looking in. Faceless, OG, Evil Geniuses and SG e-sports advanced, sending TNC Pro Team, Team Random, Thunderbirds and Secret home in the single-elimination main bracket.
The day started with a SEA showdown, TNC vs. Faceless. After TNC took down Evil Geniuses, Thunderbirds and Digital Chaos in the group stage, the team looked poised to make it deep into the main event. Unfortunately for TNC, its regional rival Faceless was in the way. In the five times these two teams have competed against each other prior to Friday, Faceless has come out on top all but once. After a crushing 25-minute loss in Game 1, TNC managed to win Game 2 and give itself one more chance. Unfortunately for TNC its hopes came crashing down after a disastrous late-game fight swung the game completely in Faceless' favor. With the win, Faceless has already improved up from its last-place finish at the Boston Major, as well as its disappointing appearance at the Dota 2 Asia Championships earlier this April.
The next match was OG vs. Team Random. The past few months have been rough for Team Random, to say the least. In addition to finishing last in the past three large events, the Team Random players recently parted ways with their old organization, Wings Gaming. Team Random did manage to win Game 2 against OG's Arc Warden, but looked extremely poor in the other two games of the series. This marks another last-place finish for Team Random, disappointing results from The International 2016 champions. It's likely that Team Random will secure an invitation to The International 2017 as the defending champions, but in its current form, Team Random doesn't look like a strong competitor. OG continued its streak of strong showings with its win, moving forward into the quarterfinals and hopes to defend its Boston Major title.
Next on the docket was Evil Geniuses vs. Thunderbirds. Both of these teams were rated highly going into the event, but struggled in the group stage. After two close best-of-three series earlier in the day that went to all three games, Evil Geniuses did its best to put the day back on schedule. The first game of the series was close, but in Game 2 Evil Geniuses ran away with the show. Thunderbirds was limited to a meager three kills in a 30-minute game. This was a disappointing showing from Thunderbirds, which has struggled to find a top tournament finish since its win at ESL One Genting.
The last series of the day was between SG e-sports and Team Secret. This was an absolutely immense upset win for SG e-sports considering it was No. 16 seed against the No. 1 seed. Secret took a commanding Game 1 win, but SG struck back in Game 2 thanks to some classic South American aggression. SG took the fights to Secret this time around, and were able to send the series to a deciding Game 3. The Game 2 win was SG's second game win at the entire tournament, and also ended Team Secret's 20-game win streak. This wasn't the end of SG's upsets Friday though. Spectacular performances from SG's two carry players, William "hFn" Medeiros and Adriano "4dr" Machado, secured a Game 3 win after a grueling 57 minutes. This was a spectacular series for the young Brazilian squad, but things only get more difficult in the next round, where they are set to face Evil Geniuses.
The games resume Saturday in the quarterfinals where four more teams will be eliminated. The day starts with Invictus Gaming vs Team Liquid, followed by VGJ vs Virtus.pro, Faceless vs OG and Evil Geniuses vs SG e-sports.
