Recap: Day 2 of Paris Major qualifiers

8-4-2023 08:35

After a technical issue-filled day one at the RMRs, day two was mainly about the Counter-Strike.

Favorites deliver in Asia

The five postponed matches from day one finally saw action on day two. After another hour-and-a-half delay gave us a scare, the favorites delivered on all fronts. Rare Atom joined The MongolZ in the upper semi-finals in a match between the two best teams of the region outside of Oceania, in which the Chinese team's infamous propensity for giving up key advantages cost them dearly as the Mongolian side took advantage and advanced to the first Paris Major-qualifying match.

On the other side of the double-elimination bracket, Grayhound took down Invictus International in a one-sided affair and passed a competitive match against the second Mongolian team in attendance, Eruption, to set up Sunday's clash with The MongolZ for a spot in Paris.

Asia RMR Day 2: As it happened

It might just be 'coming home'

We're sorry to inform you that you might come to read or hear the iconic line (or cursed, depends) a lot in the near future. One of the two British representatives, Into the Breach, not only survived heading into day three but are now one win away from a place at the Major after they added a second win to their tally over Virtus.pro.

The Russian team around Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali had previously lost to B8, and they are set on a collision course with MOUZ in an elimination series after Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong & co. also failed to live up to expectations with losses to the same Ukrainian team and Falcons.

npl's potential was on full display as he topped the charts for NAVI

The second day brought its first two eliminations of Viperio and SAW as well as the first two teams earning spots in the Paris Major Legends Stage — Natus Vincere and fnatic.

NAVI had an unlikely star in Andrii "⁠npl⁠" Kukharskyi throughout the tournament. The 17-year-old was their highest-rated player at the RMR, finishing the event with an impressive 1.34 rating after NAVI rounded out their campaign with a clean win over FaZe.

In an intriguing turn of events, FaZe and Natus Vincere vetoed down to Vertigo as the decider — a map NAVI have never had in their map pool and FaZe only played once in the past five months —, but we never got to see how that would pan out as NAVI closed it in two.

Meanwhile, fnatic's run has become a point of discussion and served as another example fueling criticism of seeding issues in Majors. Through no fault of their own, of course, the William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman-led squad beat three teams ranked below the top 30 en route to a Legends Stage spot — Viperio, 1win, and B8.

EU RMR A Day 2: As it happened

Four teams out already in ruthless Americas RMR

In part postponed from day one, the second round of the Americas RMR in Monterrey, Mexico, sent four teams packing already due to there only being five Major spots up for grabs.

TeamOne suffered an embarrassing 3-16, 0-16 loss to Imperial on the way out of the tournament and were soon joined by 00NATION, Solid, and yur in the pile of eliminated teams with zero wins to their name.

Liquid are to play FURIA for a Paris Major spot

On the other hand, four teams earned two chances to qualify for the Paris Major after winning their 1-0 matches. Liquid were the only one to do so comfortably over Flamengo, while FURIA were made to work for their second win by Evil Geniuses, paiN passed Complexity, and Fluxo edged BESTIA.

Day three will be headlined by a Major-qualifying match between the region's top two teams, FURIA and Liquid, and an elimination match that will send shivers down Complexity fans' spines as they are facing a historically difficult Imperial matchup.

Americas RMR Day 2: As it happened

HLTV live coverage

HLTV.org has teams at each location in Ulaanbaatar, Copenhagen, and Monterrey to bring you interviews and photos from the qualifiers. Here's all the content we released on day two:

Galleries
Asia RMR - Day 2
Europe RMR A - Day 2
Americas RMR - Day 2

Interviews
Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo: "For me it feels like a last dance every time"
Nicholas "⁠guerri⁠" Nogueira: We were not playing like a team, we needed to do something to change that
Andrii "⁠npl⁠" Kukharskyi: "I understand B1ad3 and electroNic's ideas better"
Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk: "I am really proud of the team already"
Jonatan "⁠Devilwalk⁠" Lundberg: "We've created a very strong bond and I'm enjoying every moment"

Performance of the day

on Ancient

A few candidates for performance of the day cropped up, chief among which were Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro against MOUZ and Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson against B8, but it ended up going to MIBR star Felipe "⁠insani⁠" Yuji for his efforts in their elimination match against 00NATION on Ancient:

Score: 35-4-15
Rating: 1.94
Impact: 2.32
Multi-kills: 10
Opening duels: 6-1