The battle for the Summoner’s Cup has begun. Fourteen teams go into this fight and by October 5th only one will remain as this years champions. On day one, only half of the competitors compete to stay alive. Here are some quick highlights from the matches.
The Lithuanian Wild Card GamingGear.eu found themselves trampled by North American favorite Team Solo Mid. The teams battled for Dragon 8 minutes, and after the game turned into quite a debacle for GamingGear. WildTurtle quickly became Inspirro’s worst nightmare after TSM’s attempt at an objective earned him two kills. Inspirro was unable to counter WildTurtle’s bursty champion, Corki. TSM had the advantage in this game, but their win didn’t seem to carry over to their match with OMG.
OMG secured a team-wide farm lead to guard against TSM’s counter play.Reginald picked Fizz to counter Cool’s Ahri, while it would be a good counter in theory, Regi couldn’t pull it off. He used his Area of Effect to farm, which often left him vulnerable to aggression. TSM lost vital map control and momentum throughout the game, ending in their defeat.
TSM wasn’t the only team to suffer defeat from OMG; SKT T1 lost their game with OMG by a wider margin than TSM, which is surprising considering SKT T1 was thought to be a high contender for the finals. SKT T1 was pushed back by OMG’s aggression; SKT T1’s Gragas narrowly escaped to the wonder of the audience, but those retreats cost them the map, and eventually victory.
Ahri was a team favorite, with 3 different teams locking her in– including SKT T1’s Faker, who has a 100% win rate with the foxy champion. Not even walls make a champion safe from Faker’s Ahri, as he was able to send Mithy and Dexter to their deaths with his full combo during consecutive challenges at Baron Nashor. OMG’s Cool also picked Ahri in the match against TSM, along with Lemondogs’ Nukeduck against GamingGear.
Group A Standings at the end of Day 1:
| Team | Wins | Losses |
| OMG | 2 | 0 |
| SKT T1 | 1 | 1 |
| TSM | 1 | 1 |
| Lemondogs | 1 | 1 |
| Gaming Gear | 0 | 2 |
During Vulcan’s match against Fnatic, Vulcan destroyed several turrets early game giving them a lead; their lead continued as they stayed ahead on the Dragon count. Fnatic had several close calls during team fights, in which Xmithie barely survived due to a clever maneuver by Zuna, absorbing Puszu’s Ace in the Hole. Mancloud’s item advantage allowed him to take down a couple of opponents 1v1 style, furthering Vulcan’s advantage. After a three man Baron and a final team fight, fulcan pushed for the win.
Group B Standings after Day 1:
| Team | Wins | Losses |
| Gambit BenQ | 2 | 0 |
| Samsung Ozone | 1 | 1 |
| Vulcun Techbargains | 1 | 1 |
| Fnatic | 1 | 1 |
| Mineski | 0 | 2 |
Check out some more videos from day 1.
Check out some interviews from day 1!