Shanghai Major Day 1: Hometown Heroes Come to the Fore as Giants Falter

The first day of the Shanghai Major was full of surprises, as the Asia-Pacific representatives performed better than the giants of the Dota 2 world. As the stakes were high, the first matches of the Perfect World Shanghai Major opened the door for the possibility of upsets and disappointment. Here is the schedule of the eventful day.

FlyQuest and The MongolZ Perform Well, Focus on Elimination Round

The phrase “F**k your PickEm’s” was true again as FlyQuest delivered an electrifying start of 2-0. The Australian team proved the critics wrong with dominating wins over Complexity and BIG, which eliminated them from the tournament.

FlyQuest started their run with a 13-6 win over Complexity on Anubis, where their T-side, spearheaded by Joshua “INS” Potter (19-7, 1.67 HLTV rating), overwhelmed the North Americans.

If their opener was good, their follow-up against BIG was great. The Aussies came out with another ferocious T-half, this time spearheaded by their skipper Chris “dexter” Nong (20-12, 1.70 rating) to defeat the German favorites 13-5. FlyQuest are now set to take on Team Liquid in the match for a place in the Elimination Stage where they will play against another Australian Justin “jks” Savage.

The MongolZ also did not want to be left behind, they dominated Rare Atom (13-2) and MIBR (13-6). The Mongolian team, which is now ranked in the top 10, played accordingly and quickly took control of the match. They will play GamerLegion tomorrow for a shot at sealing a spot in the next round.

Complexity and Fnatic Reel After Shaky Starts

Shanghai Major was a rough ride for Complexity from the beginning and only deteriorated further. After their loss to FlyQuest, they were again defeated 13-9 by Passion UA. However, Complexity looked lost, quite the opposite of the team that finished in the top four at ESL Pro League Season 19, even though Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski tried his best.

The North American team will now be up against Imperial Esports in an elimination match tomorrow. For Complexity, the stakes are as high as they come as they look to avoid a dreadful elimination round, a far cry from their performance at the Copenhagen Major in the first half of the year.

Fnatic was in the same boat as well. The storied organization struggled in a stunning 13-11 loss to Wildcard on Mirage, a map Wildcard usually does not play at all. It only got worse against Cloud9, who demolished Fnatic 13-5.

The boys in orange are now set to face Rare Atom in the elimination bracket. As much as they are the favorites, the Chinese team will be playing before their home fans, which will make the match very interesting.