Excellent debut for Alex Ich and Rest in Pepperonis
The four European invitees were the infamous Gamers2, mousesports, Rest in Pepperonis and Invaders. The teams are battling online for 2,000$ in cash prizes. While many are familiar with three of these line-ups, the biggest surprise was served by the unknown Invaders who swiftly gave us the first upset of the day.
In two straight sets, the Challenger team humiliated a star-packed Gamers2 who seemed lost and had no answer to the aggressive Invaders. The squad that houses names such as Jwaow, Ocelote and Yuuki then fell down to the lower bracket where they awaited the loser from RiP and mouz. Given the result, many on social media questioned the strength of G2 and their future as a team.
The debut
In the other match, Rest in Pepperonis made quick work of mouz. Undoubtedly, the spotlights were at Alex Ich who rocked Shyvana in game 1 and Kha'Zix in game 2. Despite the slow start, not only the Russian, but his entire team stepped it up and punished every mistake the enemy did. Both games snowballed out of control and ended with a two digit kill score in favour of RiP.
The final saw Invaders and RiP meet in an unexpected match-up. For those unfamiliar with Invaders, they are the number one Challenger team in Europe at the moment and are also known as EVG. What is even more interesting is that they were without support starter AoD.
Tough times for the Pepperonis
Regardless, the first game began with a one-sided stomp from Invaders who were dominating RiP and had quite the gold advantage. Unfortunately, such a constellation of players requires only one mistake to come back and the squad led by NukeDuck did exactly that. One bad fight was all that they needed, as the circumstances were getting more bizarre as RiP racked up kills. One second, Invaders were in complete control, the other, Alex Ich and co were bringing down the Nexus. With a win under their belts, the Pepperonis took early control of game two and never let the lead slip away. A straight-forward win sent Invaders to the lower bracket final.
Despite a few minor mistakes, Alex Ich and Freeze were the stars today as the tough game 1 against Invaders saw the two of them carry the team out of a sticky situation. The conclusion of the SoloMid invitational is tomorrow as RiP await the winners of the lower bracket final. The latter will be played tomorrow at 16:00 CEST, followed immediately by the Grand final starting at 19:00.
