Day one's group play is in the books, and went off with only a few unexpected outcomes. Group A looked like it would produce a pretty close showdown between Frag Dominant and nPlay. And everyone expected HighHope$ to drop easily to both teams. Even MattyV was planning on being back at work on Sunday. But after simply dominating nPlay on Dust2 and getting fourteen rounds on FD, he had to call and get someone to cover his shift.

Group B was the clearcut toughest. With malice signing up only the night before the event, the group featured three strong teams. Mach5 and PainTrain had a very close match to determine who would advance along with malice. POV simply dominated in their opening matches, cruising through group C. The final group had somewhat of an upset. While the teams to advance were pretty much expected, zsm defeating CEVO-P's MainGear was not.

UPDATE: x3o has changed their brackets significantly. Most of the second round match ups described in this article are no longer going to happen. Check the melee for the updated bracket.

Seeds Following Group Stage

1st. EG.usa
2nd. 50 Cal
3rd. MoB Gaming
4th. Team x3o
5th. Paragon of Virtue
6th. Frag Dominant
7th. zsm
8th. malice
9th. MainGear
10th. High Hopes
11th. Mach 5
12th. R4L

The first round has two matches that are really worth watching. First is zsm vs. HighHope$. HighHope$ was the day one miracle team, tearing through nPlay and coming close against group favorites FD. zsm surprised MainGear, taking their match by ten rounds. Both teams have skilled and relatively unknown players, and while this match probably won't affect the overall outcome of the tournament, it should be packed with action.

Aside from that match, Frag Dominant vs. Mach5 should prove to be interesting. Despite winning their group, FD looked shaky on day one. Mach5 looked solid in all of their matches. While they lost to malice, that team will probably advance deep in the brackets.

The outcomes of the other two opening round matches should be pretty predictable. Malice is composed of mainly iPlay players, who have been in the top four of all of the qualifier events. They tore through their group and should have no problem against MainGear, who looks like they are still trying to put all the pieces together. POV destroyed the teams in their group and look like they are going to be trouble for any team they face at this event. They are going to be way too much for D4L to handle.

Looking past round one and assuming those predictions prove correct, several interesting match-ups develop. POV vs. EG.usa is going to be a nail bitter. This is going to be make it or break it for Nepo- as he tries to prove his worth. If they come out slow, this could be much closer than anticipated. x3o should have no problem in their opening match. While they just flew in from California Saturday, and mehLer had some car trouble leaving him stranded over a hour and a half away, this should be business as usual. They should be able to use their opening match as a warm up for the rest of the event.

Another interesting match up will be MoB vs. Malice. While MoB cruised through most of their matches at the last event, they struggled against iPlay. With malice comprised of two players from that lineup, they should have a pretty good idea on how to keep things close with the west coast powerhouse. Finally, 50cal vs. Frag Dominant should be another really tight match. If FD can shake off their jitters from day one and buckle down a little, things will get interesting when they face off against a newly formed 50cal.

Below is my overall prediction of how the upper bracket might play out. Bear in mind that some of the matches I described above can go either way, so in the end my bracket could end up looking like a NCAA Basketball bracket that was picked by a Vietnamese rice farmer.




Bracket Stage Melee
Group Stage Melee
Seeds and Groups
Top Teams Previewed
Day 2 Prediction Contest!

Galleries

Day 1 Group A - Frag Dominant, High Hopes and nPlay
Day 1 Group B - Malice, Paintrain and more
Day 1 Group C - Savior, Hero and PoV with Hypnosis, R4L
Day 1 Group D - Maingear, zsm, Team nX... Ninespot eating cheesecake...

The Series:

X3O Qualifiers Explained

Qualifier One Bracket - March 29th-30th
Qualifier Two Bracket - May 17th-18th
Qualifier Three Bracket - June 28th-29th
Qualifier Four Bracket - July 19th-20th