Images: Valve Software

While it took over 16 hours for the event to get through four matches, there were still some exciting moments amidst the tedium. 

The second day of the Dota 2 Clavision: Snow Ruyi Invitational Playoffs concluded with two more teams getting eliminated and two others advancing to the Top 3. Talon Esports and Azure Ray fell in the second round of the lower bracket to Nigma Galaxy and Natus Vincere (NAVI) while Xtreme Gaming and Team Spirit advanced to the upper bracket finals after they defeated G2.iG and LGD Gaming, respectively.

Here's how all the action on day two of the Clavision: Snow Ruyi Invitational played out:

Lower bracket round 2

Nigma Galaxy 2-1 Talon Esports

The day started with Nigma bouncing back from their upper bracket loss to LGD by knocking Talon out of the tournament in three games. 

The series started with a 42-minute bloodbath that saw both teams rack up a total of 60 kills, with Nigma emerging with the win with a 33-27 kill lead. Nigma's stand-ins notably shone in this game, with stand-in position 4 player Ivan "OneJey" Zhivitsky leading the way with 9 kills and 15 assists on 7 deaths while stand-in carry Daniel “Ghost” Chan on Troll Warlord had seven kills and 11 assists on 2 deaths.

Talon then struck back hard in game two to force a decider, stomping Nigma to the tune of a 44-14 kill lead in just under 32 minutes of action. Eljohn “Akashi” Andales on a carry Windranger led the way for Talon with 14 kills and 24 assists on just one death while Chung “Ws” Wei Shen on Beastmaster pitched in with 12 kills and 18 assists on 2 deaths.

The deciding game three was a back-and-forth slugfest, though Nigma came out better in the exchanges to secure the 2-1 series victory in 42 minutes. Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan paced his team's one-sided 45-20 kill score in the closeout game with 17 kills and 20 assists on 3 deaths on a mid Sniper while Ghost on Ursa also notched 16 kills and 18 assists against 3 deaths.

Natus Vincere 2-1 Azure Ray

Due to multiple delays and two marathon games, the day's second elimination match between NAVI and Azure Ray ended up being a drawn-out slog where the former pulled out two close wins to stay longer in the tournament.

The series started with Azure Ray pulling off a 40-minute late game comeback win behind Lou “Lou” Zhen's Morphling, who had 10 kills and 14 assists on just one death. 

Game two was a slow, low-kill snoozer that saw NAVI get off to an early lead but struggle to break through a stubborn Azure Ray defense. Despite leading by over 20,000 gold in net worth by the 40-minute mark, it would take NAVI 38 more minutes to tie up the series. And while the most of the game was dull, it did have a particularly exciting ending as NAVI snuck into Azure Ray's base using multiple Boots of Travel to rush down their Ancient.

The third game followed a similar story, with NAVI cruising to a dominant position but once again failing to crack Azure Ray's high ground. But this time around, Azure Ray put up a better fight and looked like they could complete the comeback. However, NAVI eventually forced enough mistakes from their opponents to close out the 2-1 series victory in just under the hour mark and with a 38-27 kill lead.

Sukhbat “sanctity-” Otgondavaa on Ember Spirit topped the kill chart for NAVI with 16 kills and 14 assists on 7 deaths while Artem “Yuragi” Golubiev on Terrorblade pitched in with 13 kills and 17 assists on 2 deaths.

Upper bracket semifinals

Xtreme Gaming 2-1 G2.iG

The competition moved to the upper bracket for the third series of the day, featuring an all-Chinese showdown between Xtreme and G2.iG with the former emerging victorious in three games.

G2.iG started the series strong by stomping Xtreme, notching 21 kills while only conceding four deaths in 30 minutes of action. Thiay “JT-” Jun Wen led the way for G2.iG in the series opener with nine kills and 6 assists on one death.

Xtreme then bounced back in a bloodbath game two behind a stellar performance from Zhao “XinQ” Zixing on his position 4 Hoodwink. In one of the best games by a support player of the tournament so far, XinQ racked up 15 kills and 16 assists on just 3 deaths to pace his team's 33-22 kill lead in the 47-minute affair.

Game three then saw Xtreme close out the series in methodical fashion, as Wang “Ame” Chunyu had a clean five-kill, two-assist showing in Ursa to push his team to the upper bracket finals in a 41-minute rout.

Team Spirit 2-0 LGD Gaming

The day then closed with tournament favourites Spirit soundly sweeping LGD to close out a very long day of competition.

The series started with a back and forth, 42-minute slugfest that resulted in 43 total kills between the two sides. While LGD held a small gold lead through much of the midgame, Ilya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk on Morphling and Denis “Larl” Sigitov on Storm Spirit put on stellar performances as Spirit repeatedly outplayed their opponents en route to the win. Yatoro and Larl had 8 kills and 3 deaths apiece while combining for 18 assists.

Game two then saw Yatoro put on a perfect 14-kill, seven-assist performance on Muerta to secure the series sweep in just under 42 minutes of action. Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov on Mars also had nine kills and 13 assists on one death to add to Spirit's 27-15 kill lead.

With the day's results, Xtreme and Spirit have guaranteed themselves at least a Top 3 finish as well as $62,500 in winnings. They will next face off in the upper bracket finals to get one step closer towards claiming the grand prize of $152,500.

Meanwhile, Nigma and NAVI also secured at least a Top 6 placement and $31,250. Finally, Talon and Azure Ray exit the tournament in 7th-8th place and with $26,250 in consolation.
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