G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #3 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf outlasted T1 T1 Korea Rank #2 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-oh (김태오) Sylvan Go Young-sup (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) 2-1 on the opening day of Champions Tour 2024: Masters Shanghai. FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix Inactive SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin Zyppan Pontus Eek ANGE1 Kyrylo Karasov Shao Andrey Kiprsky ardiis Ardis Svarenieks also defeated FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #7 xeus Doğan Gözgen MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan cNed Mehmet Yağız İpek qRaxs Doğukan Balaban 2-1 in front of their home crowd to advance in the Swiss stage.

In two matches that both went the distance, it was comebacks on the third map that were the story of the day. Both T1 and FUT held leads late on the third map, and both were unable to close out the game.

G2 outlast T1

This matchup was billed as Sayaplayer against his former Guard teammates in their return to the international stage. After advancing through Ascension last year, G2 had qualified for their first Masters halfway through their first season in VCT: Americas. Following the move of dropping neT midseason in favor of icy , G2 has looked great through Split 1, and they carried that form into their match today.

On Breeze, the tournament's opening map, G2 started strong on their opponent's map pick. After switching to Sentinel from Duelist, leaf has been performing at a high level over the recent months, and this match was no exception. He finished with 28 kills and a 342 combat score while playing Cypher.

After taking a 7-5 lead into half, G2 would only drop one round in the second half and win the map comfortably, 13-8.

G2 went into their own map pick of Icebox looking to close out the series, but were unable to do so.

From the opening round of the match, T1 was able to outclass them on Icebox behind 20 kills from Rossy .

Their strategy was simple: attack the A bombsite. Even on the round they tried to attack B, they changed their mind and went back to A. This simplistic strategy proved very effective, as they won the first eight rounds of the map and took an 11-1 lead into half. After winning pistol and their second round, T1 finished the map with a 13-1 win. The series was tied 1-1 heading into the deciding map of Lotus.

T1 used their momentum from Icebox to jump out to a 9-3 lead in the opening half. Trailing 10-5, G2 won four straight rounds to cut the lead to 10-9. After a few more rounds, T1 stood on match point at 12-11, but three straight rounds from G2 had them take the map 14-12 and the series 2-1.

Leaf led the way for G2 with 58 kills across three maps, and carpe led the way for T1 with 53.

FPX come back to defeat FUT

Playing in front of their home crowd, FPX executed a comeback on both of the last two maps to defeat FUT 2-1. This was their first international win at a Masters, and to do so in front of their home crowd made the win even more special.

With the score 3-3 on Sunset, FUT had a 2v1 and looked poised to take the lead, but Autumn found quick kills on both of the remaining players to take the round and the lead.

After falling behind 9-3, FUT were outclassed again in the second half, and FPX was able to take the map comfortably 13-7, with Life recording 25 kills playing Yoru.

FPX, with their unique agent compositions, had Life on Yoru in the opening map, who was able to consistently find impact kills.

After falling behind 8-4 on Lotus, FPX won six straight rounds on the attacking half to take a 10-8 lead. However, they dropped a few rounds and found themselves down 12-11. After two straight round wins for FUT in overtime, the series was tied 1-1.

Going into Icebox, FUT looked well in control of the map going ahead 8-4 at half. After winning pistol and bonus and taking a 10-4 lead, FUT was poised to advance in the Swiss stage. Icebox, however, is never that clear cut of a map, and FPX wanted that first Masters win.

Trailing 10-4, FPX won five straight rounds in exciting fashion to cut the deficit to one. With the score 10-9, FPX won a tough round against the OP and tied the map at 10-10.

FPX used this momentum to win all of the remaining rounds and take the map 13-10.

A huge comeback saw them win nine straight rounds, and FPX finally had their first international win.

Going forward, G2 advance to the 1-0 side of the Swiss stage, while T1 fall to the 0-1 side. They will learn their opponents at the conclusion of play tomorrow.