Day one of All-Star is behind us and with regional top teams from all around the world, we were treated to several amazing matches today. Although it has only been the first day it is already safe to say that the considerable hype around game modes and star line-ups was justified, with the location and impressive French crowd ensuring an amazing atmosphere! For those who missed the action but will be watching tomorrow, here's what happened today:
Team Fire versus Team Ice: Ultra Rapid Fire mode
The day started off with a light-hearted URF-showdown All-Star Challenge showdown. It would be an understatement to say that Team Fire merely destroyed their opponents – it was a Bjergsen-infused slaughter. Sporting the Ezrael the fans demanded in the URF poll, he ended the game 24-3-9 and carried his team to victory.
Honorable mention: Shy for managing to do a lot of running around and building mana items on Blitzcrank. Also: Joe Miller and Leigh ''Deman'' Smith for straining their vocal chords straight off the bat.
OMG versus Fnatic
OMG made a strong entrance this tournament. Despite starting the game off on the back foot by conceding two kills to Cyanide in the early game, they remained resilient throughout the game. Through some magnificent engages and strong teamfighting, they managed to snowball the game towards a convincing win against the European champion and crowd favorite.
Honorable mention: pomelo's Nunu was crucial in zoning Fnatic and securing his team successful engages.
SK Telecom T1 K versus Azubu Taipei Assassins
The reigning world champion against season 2's was a highly anticipated matchup. The actual showdown didn't live up to expectations, however. The Assassins quickly lost control over the map, largely due to an unfortunate run by the Taiwanese top laner, Achie. SK Telecom T1 K ended up taking the win in dominating fashion.
Honorable mention: TPA's Morning gave an impressive showing against SKT's Faker, outlaning the Korean's Twisted Fate with Lulu.
Fnatic versus Cloud 9 HyperX
The Fnatic-Cloud 9 matchup has by now turned into the one and true transatlantic classic. This time around, the Americans had to play without their trusted mid laner and shotcaller Hai, who was hospitalized at the time of the event. Replacing him was Counter Logic Gaming's Link, who is temporarily transferred to the Cloud 9 family for this very purpose. He seemed to fulfill his role more than decently in this matchup, captaining the team into some perfectly timed engages in order to counter the Europeans' strongly executed split pushing. In the end, the North Americans seized the win after a long, back-and-forth game.
Honorable mention: MonteCristo at the analyst desk for correctly guessing all the match results up until that point and being very humble about that:
(シ_ _)シ All hail Lord Monte (シ_ _)シ
— MonteCristo (@ggCMonteCristo) May 8, 2014
OMG versus Azubu Taipei Assassins
After losing their first game of the day, it was up to the Assassins to redeem themselves by defeating the Chinese powerhouse. Despite a good level 1 fight and some profound kill trading and map control throughout the early game, the Taiwanese squad didn't manage to match OMG's impeccable early to mid game transition. OMG handily took control of the rest of the game and systematically ripped the Assassins apart, ending the day 2-0.
Honorable mention: xiyang, OMG's mid laner, completely dominated Morning with his impressive Syndra play. Unfazed by the momentum swings in the top and bottom lane, he outclassed his opponent in kills as well as creep score, allowing him to have him team take control of the game in the mid game.
SK Telecom T1 K versus Cloud 9 HyperX
North America's champion went in strong in their first match against the world champion, holding its own for the first couple of minutes and maintaining an even gold score. The turnaround game around the 10 minute mark, when Piglet's Vayne managed to pick up a double kill in the bottom lane and consequently securing his team a dragon. The Koreans professionally snowballed this early gold swing into an easy win.
Honorable mention: SKT's bottom lane was bold enough to pick Vayne and Zyra into Twitch and Morgana, a move that was duly rewarded by a carrying Piglet: he finished the match 9-1-6.
The second half of the group stage of this year's All-Star will take place tomorrow, starting form 13:00 CET. Make sure not to miss out on the world's best duking it out for the $50,000 winner-takes-all prize on lolesports.com!