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　　Seven games and a constant barrage of upsets: IEM Katowice has kicked off to an awesome start! No worries if you missed a few games, as we've gathered up the highlights of the day.

　　

Group A

Invictus Gaming vs Fnatic

Best Play: Though Fnatic was able to turn fights a few times, Invictus had heavily outstripped them for objectives. A three-man kill at Baron sealed the deal at 40 minutes, leading directly to the Chinese team's victory.

　　MVP: Zzitai's Yasuo was a relentless menace, butchering xPeke's Kassadin early under his own turret, and never let up on the pressure.

　　

KT Bullets vs Millennium

Best Play: First blood didn't go down until 11 minutes into the game, but it was a splashy entry for KT Bullets. Kerp secured First Blood as he tagged Mafa with Ethereal Chains, triggering a bot lane fight. InSec was already in position, securing the doublekill to kick off the Bullets' advantage.

　　MVP: InSec made a very impressive showing off weeks of criticism of his return to the jungle role, but it was really Ryu that carried the day. Javelin Tosses bedeviled Millennium, outright denying them an opportunity to fight back.

　　

Winner's Bracket: Invictus Gaming vs KT Bullets

Best Play: Invictus Gaming took a commanding lead for most of the game, with Kid leading the charge, but couldn't shut it out against the Bullets. It all came to a head as they attempted Baron at 34 minutes – super minions were tempting Bullets to make a retreat, but instead InSec goes in for a successful steal and escapes! With an advantage in fights and respawn timers increasingly lengthy, the bullets pulled out a desperate win.

　　MVP: This time, it was the InSec show. Though the game was otherwise rough on his Kha'zix, a late Baron Nashor steal was key to turning the fight around for his team.

　　

Loser's Bracket: Fnatic vs Millennium

Best Play: It took a grueling 70 minutes to reach the break point for Millennium vs Fnatic, with both teams long past the 100k gold mark, but it broke in dramatic fashion. Fnatic took down the mid inhibitor (for the second or third time), and seemed to retreat yet again for another drawn-out wait. Millennium's nerves broke just then as they chased after Fnatic – and right into a trap as xPeke picked up a doublekill! With respawn timers at over 70 seconds, Fnatic seals Millennium's fates, sending them packing home.

　　MVP: Rekkles, for being unarguably the most consistent player on his team. With a CS record of 699 by the end of the game, he was also possibly the richest player on his team, with only xPeke to contest.

　　

Group B

Gambit Gaming vs Taipei Assassins

Best Play: Few people expected the Taipei Assassins to take the lead, and fewer yet to have it happen in such dramatic fashion. Mid laner Morning was so fed that, by the 23 minute mark, Gambit's otherwise form-perfect engagement at their mid lane inhibitor was foiled by Ziggs' overwhelmingly powerful hexplosives. Though Genja was finally able to shut down Morning's rampage – one of his only two deaths of the game – TPA's ace helped propel them up the winner's bracket.

　　MVP: Is there any doubt at all? A 13-2 Ziggs was a shock to everybody. Morning was just a few more bombs away from dealing more damage than all of Gambit combined.

　　

Cloud 9 vs Team WE

Best Play: WeiXiao's had a terrible day against America's Finest. Lemonnation's Dark Bindings harassed him all laning phase, but their setup for a mid lane fight at least looked promising. It even started off well as Sneak and Lemonnation were traded for Ruo and Conan. But then Balls smashed through, taking WeiXiao out to secure a 3-2 victory for C9 and pave the way to Dragon.

　　MVP: Lemonnation's Dark Bindings were crucial to C9's victory. Team WE was heavily dependent on their bot lane's eventual growth, and his Morgana was nothing short of debilitating to that endgoal.

　　

Winner's Bracket: Taipei Assassins vs Cloud 9

Best Play: Achie just couldn't get into the game. DinTer's top lane gank might have blown Balls' Flash, but it was far from enough. Mundo already has a hard enough time versus Renekton, but Meteos and Hai kept showing up top as well, sending him packing home – if not stuck in respawn. Cloud 9 simply strangled TPA by removing Achie's ability to do anything at all.

　　MVP: Meteos's Kha'zix was everywhere, ganking every lane, but especially making life awful for Mundo. An end-of-game record of 5-0, with a Guardian's Angel just to make him even harder to take down, spoke volumes of his impact.

　　

Standings

Summary of the Day

IEM Day One's been a string of upsets, especially for European teams and fans. The early aggression of Asian and even North American teams have been the defining trait of the winners. Lackluster laning phases by Millennium and Fnatic especially, allowed the more aggressive teams to turn early advantages into careening snowballs. In contrast, the direct Europe versus Europe game between Millennium and Fnatic dragged on for nearly 72 long and painful minutes with neither side willing to take risks until a string of decisive mistakes at the very end.

　　But it wasn't simply a matter of fighting constantly, or else Invictus Gaming might have succeeded in shutting out Korea's KT Rolster Bullets. The name of the game was objectives control, and iG critically floundered just as they had the Bullets on the ropes. The Taipei Assassins also put on a stunning showcase of the strategy, decisively knocking out a heavily favored Gambit Gaming.

　　But the biggest winner of the day was Cloud 9, whose decisive victories over both the Chinese Team WE and Taiwan's TPA was a triumphant moment for American eSports.

　　Image Credit: ESL, Leaguepedia