Despite the group stage providing some funky scenarios (Rogue won an "elimination" match giving them the top seed in their group) and overall not having enough Rocket League to really warrant their arrival, I cannot complain about the quality of most of day two's matches. You do not need a game five to have a close, exciting game, and today proved that as we saw several exciting matches featuring incredible individual outplays, hard carries from some of the world's best, and young talent flex their muscles.
From NRG securing a 2-0 with a big win over PSG to G2 Esports firmly in the JKnapsack, there is a lot to talk about in today's recap.
North American dominance
In my preview article for North America I said that this was the region's year for breakout success, but to dominate the group stage without dropping a series was a bit beyond belief. Cloud9 took care of business on day one, but I expected them to go through their group with zero issues. NRG faced some issues on day one against INTZ, but Justin "jstn" Morales displayed his incredible Dominus skills against PSG in an extremely exciting matchup.
NRG scored in bunches and their defense was solid despite some hiccups on rotations. NRG looked like the dominant NA frontrunner from online league play and not the mediocre shell of a team we saw at Dallas which gives confidence for long-suffering NRG fans going into a tilt with Vitality in the quarterfinals.