Day 1 of the StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 2 finals saw a clash of several titans. With The International 6 cresting the horizon, every match in Los Angeles means experience, confidence and a chance for these teams to try and figure each other out before playing for the big prize in Seattle.
Southeast Asia's Fnatic matched up against Natus Vincere, a match of fan favorites and star cores. Despite an explosive Game 1, Na'Vi sprung back in Games 2 and 3, with Victor "GeneRaL" Nigrini's Furion racking up a 12/1/8 standing in the short 13 minutes it took for Fnatic to call "GG" in Game 3. Natus Vincere took the series 2-1 will continue on through the upper bracket.
In the second series of the day, Digital Chaos faced off with F.R.I.E.N.D.S., the European replacements after Virtus.Pro's exit from StarLadder. Stellar back-to-back performances from Roman "Resolut1on" Fominok in Games 1 and 2 gave DC the series 2-0, and made a distinct statement in doing so: DC is here to win.
The most impressive performance of the day, however, goes to the newly reformed Evil Geniuses lineup in its matches against CDEC.Youth. EG showed that it came out of the forge stronger than ever, with Clinton "Fear" Loomis and Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Arora in top form, decimating CDEC.Youth 2-0.
Team Secret and Complexity played the final series of Day 1, where the American team struggled against a more focused Secret. Complexity could never manage to put the final nail in the coffin, and died from a thousand cuts from Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao's split-pushing Morphling in Game 2. The American squad dropped 0-2 to the loser's bracket and will have to fight for survival to stay in the StarLadder finals.