By the end of Day 2 of DreamHack Tours in Tours, France, two teams stood above the rubble and ruin of their former adversaries. In an action-packed Sunday, Misfits and G2 Esports advanced over the rest to move on to the next stage of the tournament. Here's the shakedown of how Day 2 played out.
After Misfits made an improbable comeback in double overtime by taking Map 1 by a 22-19 score, Heroic handled the first half of Map 2 on Nuke with ease, bouncing back from its close Game 1 loss by taking a 9-2 lead. Misfits finally showed signs of life with a few late round wins but trailed heading into the second half 11-4. It was all business for Heroic as Jakob "Jugi" Hansen played phenomenally with the AWP, leading to a 16-4 Heroic win to force Game 3.
Misfits took an early lead to open the pivotal map on Train, winning four straight rounds to take a 9-6 lead into the second half. Needing a strong start to stave off elimination, Heroic capitalized off a Jugi triple kill to give his team a pistol round win, allowing Heroic to pull even at nine rounds apiece before Misfits got on the board. As both teams exchanged round wins late into the game, Misfits held firm with a 1-vs-2 clutch from Shahzeeb "Shazam" Khan's AWP to take a 16-12 win and send Heroic packing.
Up next was EnVyUs vs. G2, where the French crowd was initially torn in support but eventually united behind the brilliant play of G2. G2's Alexandre "bodyy" Pianaro was on fire in the first half, picking up 15 kills while dying only three times by round 10. All of G2 played phenomenally as it took a 11-4 halftime lead, but EnVyUs fired back by opening the second half with a dominant 6-0 run. G2 collected itself, though, picking up five straight rounds on the back of Richard "shox" Papillon's 26/14 KD (kills/deaths) and bodyy's 27/16 KD to take Game 1 by a 16-10 score.
Game 2 began with a nine-round win spree from G2, highlighted by Nathan "NBK" Schmitt holding a KD of 10/1 into Round 7, where he picked up a clutch triple kill. Heading into the second half facing a 13-2 deficit, NV did what it could to win rounds, picking up six before G2 took control and closed out the 2-0 sweep with a 16-8 win.
What turned out to be the biggest upset of the day began as most would have expected, with Na'Vi dominating Misfits in Game 1. Playing on Misfit's map selection of Cobblestone, Na'Vi jumped ahead to a 8-3 lead thanks to a quadra kill from Denis "seized" Kostin, entering the second half with a lead of 11-4. It was all smooth sailing from there, as Na'Vi took Game 1 by a 16-7 margin. Game 2 bucked the script, however, as Misfits put on an epic CT-side performance in the first half, largely thanks to Shahzeeb "ShahZaM" Khan.
Picking up triple kills in Rounds 8 and 12, respectively, Shahzam and his hot AWP picked up a staggering 27 kills through 20 rounds en route to a 30/15 KD and 111.4 ADR (average damage per round) in a 16-9 win for Misfits. Shahzam simply couldn't be stopped as the series arrived at Mirage in Game 3, leading Misfits to a 6-1 lead. While all of Misfits played well, Na'Vi seemed shaken by its Game 2 loss, entering the second half facing an 11-4 deficit. A short while and a 21/9 KD from Misfit David "devoduvek" Dobrosavlijevic later, Misfits completed a shocking upset with a massive 16-4 win to advance in the tournament while knocking Na'Vi out.
In the last matchup of the day, G2 Esports took on tRICKED in what can be charitably described as a thorough beating. The pain began for tRICKED in Game 1, where G2 took an early first half lead on Cobblestone. G2 took a 9-6 lead into the second half when the game became a scrappy and back-and-forth battle. Fortunately for G2, four of its members posted over 20 kills apiece as G2 sealed the deal with a 16-11 win. Game 2 began with heated first-half battles, leading to a one-round lead for G2 heading into the second half. Powered by NBK, who finished with a game-high KD of 28/13, G2 controlled the second half with ease, taking eight out of 10 rounds to close out a 16-9 win.