9z annihilate Aurora to kick off Thunderpick World Championship - recap
Aurora had been on a bit of a hot streak of form, but they were cut to ribbons by 9z on Nuke to quieten down the hype pretty sharply.
luchov has had a slow second half of the year but there was nothing slow about this map, as he danced around the map finding over a kill per round, while kyxsan didn't even get a kill per half. Poor guy.
Map one, Inferno, was much closer, but 9z once more had luchov to thank for a stellar performance. His key double kill brought 9z a twelfth in a crucial round 23, and he opened up the round on kyxsan for number 13, too, just as 9z looked like they might have choked their 10-4 lead.
Nuke was a complete whitewash, as luchov and HUASOPEEK just deleted Aurora from the map. We felt sorry for Jimpphat, who couldn't have done much more - his triple in round 12 looked for all the world like it should have settled it then and there, but luchov and max pulled off a round that summed up Aurora's day in the 2v4.
Falcons were pushed all the way on Ancient by NIP, but pulled away on Dust 2 for the 2-0.
m0NESY pulled Falcons out of a hole on Ancient, winning a crucial 1v2 to find 10 for Falcons, and closing the map with back-to-back multkills in overtime, after NIP had recovered from a 4-8 half.
NIP actually hit 12 first, but a triple from karrigan would deny them the win - something which has plagued them for years now is closing out when they hit 12, and m0NESY made them pay.
Dust 2 was far more simple. NiKo and m0NESY are just better than NIP's players, When NiKo got all four in a 2v4, you feared that NIP just wouldn't be able to live with the firepower, and so it proved. NIP only managed six, and one of those was xKacpersky doing the same thing back to Falcons, which we suppose undermines the point somewhat; or would, if the rest of Falcons weren't just miles better.
Legacy managed to just about avoid a third map against PARIVISION, which is a rarity, as dumau delivered on Mirage to get his team through to the upper bracket.
PARIVISION make you play all the rounds every time, but they're beatable with enough firepower and that's exactly what Legacy have. dumau broke through the defence with a double to turn an initial 3v5 into even numbers in a crucial overtime round, and he was a complete menace throughout Mirage.
Legacy's countrymen similar avoided a tough underdog, as FURIA handled BetBoom in two.
Both maps were close enough to be interesting, but FURIA were more comfortable than the 13-10 13-9 would suggest. KSCERATO, man, we're tired of talking about how good he is. He's the reason this was a comfy win for FURIA, as he ran riot on Ancient to go 19-9 and make sure his team were not losing on day one.
