Toronto Clutch up against LA Thieves and Rokkr Stun Faze in an action-packed Day 1 at the Stage 5 Major

The Stage 5 Major LAN is officially underway and we have already seen our fair share of thrills. From Toronto's dramatic game 5 victory over LA Thieves, to Minnesota's remarkable victory over Faze, this is looking to be a tournament for the ages. Here is our recap of all that went down on Day 1 of the Stage 5 Major.

Starting off the Major we had the Seattle Surge taking on the Paris Legion. And it wasn't a pretty sight to say the least.

While both teams are already out of playoff contention, that didn't stop the Surge from asserting their dominance; as they took the first hardpoint with relative ease. Paris did manage to tie up the map count with an emphatic win in the Raid Search & Destroy. However, it ultimately proved to be bittersweet as Seattle ripped them apart in the succeeding maps to win the series 3 - 1.

Surge will move on to face the London Royal Ravens in the second elimination round as they look to replicate their run from Stage 4. The Legion tournament, and their season, have come to a rather disappointing end. It seemed like they never really got going at the start of the series and despite their valiant efforts to claim the Search and Destroy they just couldn't build any sort of momentum.

Following on from the Surge's thrashing of Paris, we were treated to an interesting match between the LA Guerrillas and the New York Subliners. Four weeks ago if you were to look at this fixture you might have thought that NYSL would win this comfortably. However, their recent dip in form began to show through once more as the Guerrillas made them fight for every single point. It was truly a back-and-forth affair.

While NYSL did start off strong to take the Garrison hardpoint, they never really settled into the series as LAG continued to plug away at them. Eventually the Subliners managed to walk away the victors as they took the Express Search & Destroy; winning the series 3 - 2. They will move on to face the Florida Mutineers in the second elimination round.

As for the Guerrillas their season has well and truly come to an end. And it will certainly be a season that everyone will be wanting to forget. Though they were already eliminated from playoff contention before the start of Stage 5 they just never looked like they were capable of sustaining a solid run of form. Here's hoping things turn out better for them next season.

And now we move on to, what was arguably, the biggest surprise to come out of Day 1 as the Minnesota Rokkr squared off against Atlanta FaZe. Going into this, just about everyone predicted that this would be an easy win for FaZe; who are looking to win three majors in a row. It was anything but simple in the end as Rokkr reminded us that they are a force to be reckoned with.

Minnesota came flying out of the gate as they took the Checkmate Hardpoint in a surprisingly dominant fashion. Rokkr continued their strong performance in the series as they managed to take Express Search & Destroy in a dramatic round 11. FaZe did bounce back with an emphatic performance in the Garrison Control, but ultimately fell in the Raid hardpoint by a narrow margin.

With that Rokkr were able to win the series 3 - 1, a result that no one saw coming. They move on to face the Dallas Empire in the second round of the Winners Bracket in what should be a very exciting matchup. As for Faze they will need to hit the regain button rather quickly as they are knocked into the Losers Bracket for only the second time this season. They will play the winner of the Seattle Surge vs London Royal Ravens match.

Lastly we had the highly anticipated matchup between Toronto Ultra and LA Thieves. Both teams came into this tournament in relatively good form, and both looking to improve their seeding for Playoffs.

LA got off to a flying start as they tore through Ultra to take the Raid Hardpoint. Ultra responded in kind with a very dominant performance on the Moscow Search & Destroy as well as with a quick Control win. Things certainly looked as though they were going to spiral out of control for LA, but they managed to regain their confidence to push the series to a map 5.

Unfortunately that was about as far as LA could manage as Ultra were able to clutch up in the Standoff Search & Destroy to win the series 3 - 2. They now move on to face a red-hot OpTic Chicago in the second round of the Winners' Bracket. Meanwhile LA Thieves will be heading down to the Losers' Bracket alongside FaZe, where they will square off against the winner of the Florida Mutineers vs New York Subliners match.

The second round of matches at the Stage 5 Major will be commencing today at 1pm PST/4pm EST. And we cannot wait to see what lies in store for us this time.

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