Four Lobbies, One Big Upset

Epos, Otaaaq control the room

Opening match for Group A went pretty much as expected. Team Liquid players Epos and Otaaaq went in as clear favorites and never let anyone think otherwise. They controlled the pace of the match from the first map, and neither Cemko nor L1ngo could get in their range.

Pac closes it with a WR round, Stufts edges the fight for second

Noiszia ran into technical issues early on and it felt like he never really recovered mentally from it. Up front, the King of Birmingham Pac sealed the match with a WR round on Germany to close things out. The battle for second was more interesting, but Stufts was eventually able to knock Affi down to the lower bracket. Worth mentioning: from round 18, Stufts won 6 out of 8 rounds to seal the deal.

Wosile wire-to-wire, and an N64 controller steals the room

Wosile controlled his performance throughout the match, taking the lead early and not giving it up until the end. As expected, the second player to go through to the upper bracket is Binkss with his rather steady, regular pace. LinkMax showed up with an N64 controller, and even though the choice was known by the community beforehand, it was still a fun moment seeing a “new” device on stage.

Pusztitopako stuns the favorites

Upset of the day, but was it really? Mudda and Gwen were picked by most as the clear favorites heading into the closing battle for first. But Hungarian Virtus.Pro player pusztitopako had other plans. A clutch closing round on Saudi Arabia was enough to put him ahead of them both, letting him finish the match on top and surprisingly knocking Mudda down to third in the process.

Bren, GranaDy, CarlJr Deliver

Bren wins as expected, Neon is the real story

Bren was always the favorite here, and the result reflected that. But the young Polish prodigy was the one worth watching. His pace was genuinely close to the 2023 World Champion’s, and what kept him off the top spot wasn’t speed, it was consistency. If he tightens that part up, he’s a name to watch for the rest of the event.

GranaDy runs away with it, Soulja follows him to the upper bracket

Nyco “GranaDy” Gyarmati didn’t just win this match, he took it apart like an apex predator. Probably one of the most one-sided results of the first day. Behind him, Soulja delivered a solid run of his own to lock up second place and a spot in the upper bracket.

Never bet against CarlJr

CarlJr closed this one in 18 rounds. 18. Smooth, effortless driving, apart from the first two rounds where he just crashed. Carl barely missed a line anywhere in the map pool, and according to eCircuitMania’s stats, it was the best individual performance of the day across the whole field in Paris. Mime finished where most experts and the community expected him to, taking second behind the GOAT himself.

Massa and eLconn21 clear of a quiet S8UL duo

The final Group B lobby didn’t have much drama. Massa and eLconn21 simply delivered, even though Whizzy was in front of Massa until round 9. The two S8UL players couldn’t keep the pace for long stretches of the match in the end. Massa came out on top, and Elmer (hello Heccu) closed it out for the day, taking the last upper bracket spot from Group B.

That’s Group A and Group B both wrapped for Day 1. Pusztitopako’s win over Mudda and Gwen is the headline, but CarlJr’s round count and GranaDy’s dominance both deserve a mention heading into the next stage. Full standings and the updated bracket are live on the home page.