Nigma Galaxy continue rolling, Team Spirit are looking vulnerable, while Chinese teams continue to struggle.
The Dota 2 Clavision: Snow Ruyi Invitational continues to deliver more surprises as the second day of its Group Stage concluded on Monday (29 July).
After pulling out an unlikely victory in day one over Xtreme Gaming, an undermanned Nigma Galaxy scored another huge upset over Azure Ray to improve to a 2-0 standing. Meanwhile, Virtus.pro (VP) also managed their own unexpected win against the biggest favourites to win the tournament: reigning The International champions Team Spirit.
More upsets in day two of Snow Ruyi Invitational
No doubt the biggest highlights of the second day of the tournament were the two huge upset victories by Nigma Galaxy and VP to close out the day.
Fresh off their unlikely win over Xtreme in day one, Nigma Galaxy carried their momentum into day two by soundly sweeping Azure Ray to improve their record to 2-0 in Group B.
Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan led the way for Nigma Galaxy in a 32-minute rout in game one by notching 10 kills and 11 assists on three deaths as Sand King to pace his team’s 27-11 kill lead. Stand-in carry player Daniel “Ghost” Chan then showed out with 11 kills, 10 assists, on just one death as Morphling in the 38-minute closeout game two.
Nigma Galaxy’s victory over Azure Ray also guaranteed that the Chinese team will be starting the Playoffs in the lower bracket, much to the chagrin of Chinese fans as their local teams continue to struggle against their Western opponents.
The other big upset of the day saw VP take down Spirit in a three-game slugfest over in Group A, a remarkable turnaround after they were swept by Natus Vincere in their first match of the day.
VP opened the series with a 48-minute win behind a stellar 20-kill, eight-assist performance on three deaths by Ilya “Kiritych” Ulyanov as Sven. However, Spirit struck back in a 40-minute stomp in game two to force the series to a deciding game three. The decider then saw Ilya “squad1x” Kuvaldin pop off on Puck, notching 11 kills and 15 assists on three deaths as VP outlasted Spirit in a 61-minute heater.
Meanwhile, LGD Gaming, G2 x iG, and Xtreme Gaming also scored victories over Team Zero, Talon Esports, and Azure Ray, respectively. Team Zero notably remains the only team without a single win in the tournament and are all but guaranteed a lower bracket start, another disappointing showing by a Chinese squad so far.
Here are the full results for day one of the Clavision: Snow Ruyi Invitational:
Team Zero 0-2 LGD Gaming
G2.iG 2-0 Talon Esports
Natus Vincere 2-0 Virtus.pro
Xtreme Gaming 2-1 Azure Ray
Virtus.pro 2-1 Team Spirit
Azure Ray 0-2 Nigma Galaxy
