The first day of the CIS Minor has come to a wrap with Vega Squadron going through to the playoffs after two best-of-ones and Tengri joining them after winning the decider against Spirit Academy.

The day started out with Spirit Academy facing-off against the Belarussian team, Nemiga. It was the Academy team that came out on top, 16-13, with a huge performance by Roman "⁠rommi⁠" Golubev.

The second Group A opener featured Tengri and Vega Squadron. The latter edged by the Kazakhs on the thirtieth round, 16-14, coming back from an 11-4 deficit in the first half.

Up next was the winners’ match, which pitted Spirit Academy and Vega Squadron. There, Nikolay "⁠mir⁠" Bityukov & co. made quick work of Spirit’s academy team and closed the match out on Nuke in 20 rounds, 16-4, to become the first team through to the playoffs.

Ramz1k was big part of his team’s success

On the other side of the balance, the first team to be eliminated from the tournament was Nemiga, who lost to Tengri, 2-0, after an agonizing 42 rounds in the first map, Overpass. Ultimately, though, Tengri closed it out with ease on Mirage.

The last match of the day pitted Tengri and Spirit Academy. The Kazakh team were quick out of the gate, taking the lead 1-0 after Inferno, in large part thanks to an impressive map by Ramazan "⁠Ramz1kBO$$⁠" Bashizov who ended the map with a 2.08 rating. The second map, Mirage, in which Ramz1kBO$$ once again ran circles around Spirit Academy by getting 37 frags after 30 rounds, was a closer affair. It was finally the Kazakhs, though, who after starting on the CT side in overtime were able to close it, 19-17, and take the second spot in the playoffs.

The CIS Minor will resume tomorrow at 10:15 for the second day of action. There are two more spots in the playoffs up for grabs, and Group B teams Spirit, pro100, Spartak, and Quantum Bellator Fire will be fighting for them.