Despite some Samuro drama, the Day 1 went pretty much according to plan. The brackets look stacked and day 2 promises to deliver some close sets.

We already guessed the 7 teams that would make a splash during the HGC qualifiers and, as it turns out, 5 of them won their matches as expected:

Puszek Team didn't make out of the round of 64 (losing to We Love Cookies) while Team Liquid lost a close series against beGenius:

BeGenius looked strong against Team Liquid's veteran line up and their match against Excelente Election will be one to watch. On the other side of the bracket, Misfits dominated everyone they came across in 2-0 sweeps, which surprised no one. They are slated to face the unknown team Russian Circus tomorrow.

Russian Circus has a huge opportunity to flex their might and find themselves in a win-win scenario. If they win, they are EU heroes that somehow managed to beat the favorites of the tournament. And if they lose, the experience playing against a top-tier team like Misfits provides replays and opportunities to improve for next qualifiers.

What upcoming teams don't want is close losses against similarly skilled, or unknown teams. Now that a league system is in place for Heroes, it isn't enough to win won tournament-- teams need to grow strong enough to secure and maintain their league spot. There will always be more qualifiers, but the opportunities to test themselves against the best teams in the world are a rarity.

The next round of matches starts Sunday, November 20th.

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