GG avoid embarrassment, Falcons rebound from early setback at FISSURE Universe Ep. 6 group stage

FISSURE Universe Ep. 6, quickfire update for the group stage, go!

Wounded, but fighting

This is not the score I expected Gaimin Gladiators to have by the penultimate day of the group stage. Sure, I had them in the middle of the pack in my FISSURE Universe 6 power rankings for this tournament, but for them to be 0-6 in maps on the third day of the competition was not on my bingo card. Granted, all of their losses were against top tier teams like BetBoom Team and Team Spirit, but I would have thought they’d get at least a map or two while finding their footing here.

Fortunately, they managed to save themselves from complete and utter shame today by beating AVULUS 2-0. Obviously not the most difficult task in the Dota 2 world as things stand, but you honestly wouldn’t have known that looking at Gaimin’s extremely cautious play throughout the series.

I can’t blame them, of course, because they needed a win in order to stay alive. Stepping too far in the wrong direction could have literally cost them their tournament lives at any point against AVULUS, so I’d say the abundance of care was warranted.

So anyway, they’re still in this one after all — but their fate as a team is now in the hands of the other squads in their group. They have to hope that BetBoom doesn’t win a single game against AVULUS, for starters. If that doesn’t pan out the way they’re hoping, there’s nothing more they can do at this point to stave off elimination.

The Falcons wake

Team Falcons didn’t get the start they were hoping for in the group stage, going down in two games to Team Spirit — who mind you are playing with a stand-in right now in place of Denis “Larl” Sigitov. More on that later. Seeing them get beaten to a pulp in that series had me worried from the outset, but they’ve since assuaged my doubts with a roaring comeback to go 6-0 in maps from there.

And with no more matches for them to look forward to in the group stage, they finish the preliminaries in second place in Group A. This does put them in the lower bracket to start things off in the playoffs, but the format of FISSURE Universe Ep. 6 leaves only two upper bracket spots anyway.

Stand-in? What stand-in?

Now, back to Team Spirit and the subject of their substitute. If you just looked at the score they have coming out of the group stage, you would think that they have all of their members playing at this tournament. But no, they’re actually playing with Marat “Mirele” Gazetdinov in the solo mid position for this one.

At the time that they announced Larl’s absence and Mirele’s substitution as a result, I thought that it was a straight downgrade given Larl’s talent and experience. But man, was I proven wrong, because Mirele has slotted in seamlessly — allowing Spirit to put in a perfect 8-0 run in the group stage. And get this: Mirele doesn’t even have a Liquipedia page of his own.