Day one was a long day of DotA 2, but the group has been completed. Unfortunately for them, one team has been eliminated and will not be going through to the day two bracket.

After a total of 20 games of DotA, we have our double elimination bracket sorted for the race to reach the money at epic.SIXTEEN. The group stage was as expected, to an extent, seeing most of the teams finding their feet with their new lineups and mix of players. However, the standout performer for the day was DreadKnight's stack, DENCH (or 'Chuke Gayming').

They managed to finish the day with a nearly unblemished record of 7-1. This stat was also by no means a product of a series of one-sided games. While they managed to perform fairly consistently throughout the day, playing almost as greedy as they could every step of the way, and managing to outfarm almost every opponent.

However, they were put to the test by Rein5ments heavy teamfight centred lineup in their game 2. There was certainly opportunities for R5 to take a game off of the (at that point) the only undefeated team in the group, but couldn't quite convert their opportunities into decisive victories. 

The other big story of the day was Choke Gaminng, who looked as if they might well live up to their name. Going into their last series they had only managed to take one point, sitting at the very bottom of the table and facing elimination. DOOPZ was particulary frustrated with his significantly high number of Gyrocopter games, but dissapointingly low win rate.

The final series of the day was a big one. It was all or nothing for Choke. Playing against the stack with a good smattering of 6k MMR players, The Hideo Kojima Team, the odds were definitely stacked against them. Choke needed to win both games in order to qualify for the bracket and not go home on day one. 

At the conclusion of an extremely back and forth series, involving all sorts of throws, counter-throws and general UK DotA 2 shenanigans, Choke claimed their hard fought 2-0 victory to see them safely through to a chance at the money! Ironically, this turn of events meant that the team that gave group leaders DENCH the biggest run for their money, Rein5ments, were leap frogged by Choke and sent prematurely packing. 

The final group standings for day one are as follows:

With that, we are into day two and the double elimination bracket that will eventually decide the participants of the grand final on Sunday. The matches can be watched live over at Twitch.tv/epiclan2 and will be played over the course of today. The schedule is as follows: