IEM Chengdu Day 1 Group B Results

Unlike group A, group B of IEM Chengdu had only four matches on day 1. Three of them finished with predictable results. One of them did not.

FaZe Clan vs. Nemiga Gaming: 13 – 8

After finishing 2^nd at PGL Major Copenhagen just weeks ago, FaZe Clan were expected to crush Nemiga and it’s actually quite surprising that they lost eight rounds against them. Broky, ropz, and rain were all in great shape, ending the match with a positive score. In the case of ropz, his 21 – 10 score and his 93+ ADR had a massive contribution to the team’s success.

The real challenge for FaZe starts in their next match, against Astralis.

Astralis vs. Steel Helmet: 13 – 2

.@dev1ce stole the show in his IGL debut, securing a 2.00 rating as the top fragger 💪💥

If you missed our match against Steel Helmet, catch all the highlights from the opening win at IEM Chengdu 👇https://t.co/oz3v4N45F0

— Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) April 8, 2024

Astralis came back after a long preparation. After failing to qualify for PGL Major Copenhagen, the Danish team changed their IGL. Now, dev1ce is the one who carefully guides the roster and it seems that his new role has not compromised his ability to remain a top scorer. In the match against Steel Helmet, he had a rating 2.0 of 2.00 and a score of 21 – 4, which is phenomenal.

The only problem here is that the Chinese team cannot be considered a serious opponent. This team is in the tournament simply because the event takes place in China and the organizer was expected to give the region the opportunity to be represented by some of the its strongest teams. However, these teams are still lightyears behind the European ones.

Cloud9 vs. FlyQuest: 6 – 13

Nobody understands how C9 managed to win like this against FlyQuest. The Australians were, at least on paper, much weaker than them. The first half of Ancient ended 6 – 6. But the second half was a complete disaster for C9, who lost every single round. Boombl4 and Ax1Le were practically bots in this match.

One explanation is that C9 might have felt disappointed by their performance at the Copenhagen Major and were not able to train with the same level of focus for this event. Nowadays, a $250.000 isn’t regarded as being very important, especially if it doesn’t take place in Europe or at least North America.

Virtus.pro vs. Wildcard Gaming: 13 – 1

Virtus.pro had a phenomenal performance against Wildcard Gaming and the score speaks for itself. In particular, VP’s FL1T had one of the highest individual scores of his career: 20 – 4, 147.4 ADR, and a rating 2.0 of 2.47.

Header: Astralis