This article is part of our CS:GO Recap series.
The second day of StarSeries Season 3 Finals in Kiev showcased some surprising matches as teams battled to capture a spot in the playoffs. Here is how all the Day 2 action went down.
Gambit and TyLoo kicked off the Wednesday games, battling to capture their first respective wins of the event on Cobblestone. TyLoo started with a quick execute on the A-bombsite to capture the first pistol round but Gambit responded by shutting down the B-bombsite attempts from TyLoo, piling up rounds for a 6-3 lead. TyLoo then capitalized on its gun round win to steal three rounds away and tie the game at 6-6, which it then broke with a 1v2 clutch by WeiJie "zhokiNg" Zhong. Gambit, however, closed out the half with a 8-7 lead. Gambit got off to a hot start in the second half, winning the first three rounds until TyLoo came back to take the lead at 12-11. Eventually, Gambit finally figured out how to break the defense of TyLoo, storming back late to take its first win 16-13.
FaZe Clan bounced back in Day 2, picking up its first win of the event over Immortals, who finished the day winless. Immortals started Mirage on offense, taking the first three rounds including a 1-vs-1 clutch by Henrique "hen1" Teles to take the early lead. FaZe Clan bounced back, holding down the A-bombsite to win the first gun round. Immortals and FaZe juggled rounds wins until the Brazilians came out on top in Round 10 thanks to Lincoln "fnx" Lau quad-kill for the 6-4 lead. FaZe Clan managed to capitalize on a semi-buy, though dominating the remainder of the half by breaking the economy of Immortals for a 9-6 lead at the half. FaZe won the second pistol round flawlessly and continued the pressure on offense. Immortals strung a few rounds together but FaZe stayed in control, posting a scoreline of 16-10 in its first win of the event.
North barely got past Astralis on Wednesday in a heated match up between the two Danish squads on Inferno. North started on the offensive with a first pistol round win thanks to Philip "aizy" Aistrup, who clutched a 1-vs-2. Astralis evened the game in a force-buy with a triple kill by Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen, but a following North force-buy resulted in two rounds won for a 3-1 advantage. North took the first half 11-4 but Astralis got the ball rolling in the second half on the offense, winning the pistol round and following six rounds to tie the game at 11-11. Emil "Magisk" Reif earned a double and triple-kill in Rounds 23 and 24, respectively, to help North take three rounds for a 14-11 lead. Though Nicolai "device" Reedtz got his team back into the lead with a 1-vs-3 clutch to force match point, North shut the door and tied the game, sending it into overtime. The Danes went back and forth but ultimately North took the first half of over time 17-16. North continued its dominance on defense, shutting Astralis out for a 19-16 win, and 2-0 tournament record.
Natus Vincere closed out Wednesday with a win of its own over Fnatic on Overpass. Natus Vincere took the first pistol round and followed that up with two more rounds to claim a 3-0 lead. Though Fnatic came back with a gun round win, its celebration was short-lived as Natus Vincere continued to hold strong on defense for a 12-3 lead at the half. Fnatic hoped to overturn the deficit in the second half but the CIS team took the pistol round over the Swedes. Fnatic managed to collect six rounds in the second half but were cut short of a win, losing Cobblestone 16-9. Natus Vincere will now go into Day 3 with a 2-0 record.
G2 and SK Gaming both finished with 16-2 wins over HellRaisers and Virtus Pro, respectively, to each grab a 2-0 record. G2 started its series off against HellRaisers on Cobblestone in a spectacular first half on the offense for a 13-2 lead. G2 held off the offense of HellRaisers in the second half for three rounds to close out the map 16-2. SK Gaming took on Virtus Pro on Mirage which went well for the Brazilians from the start. Virtus Pro looked disarrayed in the first half as the Brazilian offense crushed the Plow's defense to a 14-1 lead. Though Virtus Pro came out to win the pistol round, but were immediately taken to match point which led to the final 16-2 loss.
Day 3 action will start on Thursday at 4:00 AM ET on Twitch as TyLoo and MVP Project look to stay alive as many other teams tend to do the same.
