It was an exciting first day of playoffs at the MDL Paris Major in Disneyland yesterday. We saw stomps and tilts as our teams continue to fight it out for a place in the finals.

If you missed out on yesterday’s games, don’t sweat it. We’ve got the recap and highlights for you right here!

Secret dominating upper bracket

After their commanding performance in the opening rounds of the tournament, Team Secret have continued their dominating streak into the upper bracket.

Their first round in the upper bracket saw them face off against PSG.LGD for a spot in the top six.

Our game one saw a repeat of Zai’s Pudge, which we also saw on day one of this Major.

Just like in their opening match against Empire, Zai rolled through LGD with beautifully timed hooks and initiations. Yapzor’s Luna also had a fantastic game one. He had his vlads by 11 minutes in.

Secret closed out the first game of the series in 28 minutes.

Game two saw LGD come back determined. They well and truly turned the pages on Secret. Racking up an impressive 40 kills to Secret’s 17.

But heading into the final game of the series, it was obvious that Secret were not ready to let their top six dreams go. Their draft for game three gave them plenty of lockdowns and a strong AoE offense that helped them push LGD back. We saw a near perfect performance by Nisha on Anti-Mage. He ended game three 8/1/9.

Secret delivered an outstanding performance against the boys from China, scoring themselves a slot in the upper bracket of the semi-finals.

OG tilt Virtus Pro

Our next series of the day saw OG face-off against Virtus.pro.

Both teams have been looking strong throughout this tournament. But it was OG who brought the magic in this series.

Game one saw a close game. Ana did an incredible job on Drow Ranger, setting up kills for his team and helping them secure his objectives. He was basically unkillable, pulling of some clutch plays to survive team fights. At 17 minutes, OG were pushing mid and the game was close to over. Six minutes later, the TI8 winners had it in the bag and GG was called by VP at 23 minutes.

By the time game two rolled around, VP were well and truly tilted and it showed, as OG continued to outmaneuver the CIS team.

In just 19 minutes, OG managed to pull off a 20-kill lead over Virtus.pro. The final scoreboard read 6-26. It was a brutal, fast-paced game and OG secured themselves a spot in the upper bracket of the semi-finals.

End of the road for beastcoast

The first of our elimination matches was beastcoast vs Complexity Gaming.

From the laning phase beastcoast found themselves in trouble. Limmp’s Templar Assasin was ruthless. Bullying Ryoya on his Ember Spirit in mid and securing early gold for CoL that soon snowballed into a significant net worth lead.

Despite EternalEnVy’s Medusa getting plenty of farm, it wasn’t enough to carry beastcoast to the win. CompLexity pushed for the high ground and beastcoast’s defense was not strong enough to repel them. After 42 minutes, the game ended in a victory for CoL, who will continue on in the lower bracket.

But it’s the end of the road for beastcoast at this Major.

Beastcoast qualified for MDL Paris as Team Team. However, in the lead up to the Major the team underwent some drastic roster changes. After a disappointing performance at ESL One Mumbai, players Nico "Gunnar" Lopez and Jason "Newsham" Newsham were kicked from the team.

Team captain Jacky “EternalEnVy” Mao has come under fire for his decision to release Gunnar and Newsham from the team’s roster. Kyle Freedman, desk analyst and former captain of CompLexity Gaming, referred to EternalEnVy as a villain. Fans have also condemned the move.

Especially after Gunnar and Newsham explained their families had bought tickets to Paris, and booked hotels, to watch them play at the event. Unfortunately, the players families were unable to recoup those costs.

Whether or not we will see beastcoast at any other competitions this season is yet to be seen. They currently are sitting at 22 on the DPC rankings.

Merciless Mineski wipe out Empire

Our last elimination match of the day saw Mineski battle it out against Team Empire for a chance to progress to the semi-finals.

It was a short, 23-minute stomp by Mineski, who were at full form with their usual style of fast and aggressive play. Moon was on fire on Templar Assassin, securing 10 of his teams 28 kills over the course of the game and not a single death.

The SEA boys have had their share of ups and downs at MDL Paris. They lost their two games against LGD, which sent them to the lower bracket. But they’ve been performing well since then, securing a victory over Pain Gaming and now defeating Team Empire to make it through to the next round.

The semi-finals start today. We’ll see Evil Geniuses face Team Liquid and Vici Gaming will meet Ninjas in Pyjamas in our upper bracket. Plus, there are still three lower bracket eliminations to go. Don’t forget to tune in to the official MDL Disney stream on Twitch to catch all the action.

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