The first day of action at the Esports World Cup has concluded, with the Champions-style format pitting 16 VCT teams from the world against each other in a faster-paced event.

Here's a look at all of the action from day one.

Group A

The event kicked off in Group A, which featured matchups between 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #1 Cryocells Matthew Panganiban Asuna Peter Mazuryk vora Jordan Pulwer Timotino Timothée Lavigne Dupont bang Sean Bezerra and Rex Regum Qeon Rex Regum Qeon Asia-Pacific Rank #5 Monyet Cahya Nugraha xffero David Monangin Xan Xan Ng Jemkin Maksim Batorov Kushy Bryan Carlos Setiawan crazyguy Ngô Công Anh , and between BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Rank #6 Crewen Ali Eren Sargin Lar0k Yusuf Kaan Kanber Loita Utku Kart Rosé Eren Erzan lovers rock Umut Pekdoğan and EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) Jieni7 Zhang Juntai (张君泰) .

In the EDG-BBL matchup, the Chinese powerhouse was playing without Smoggy , who was ruled out after dealing with acute inflammation of his wisdom teeth. He was replaced in the starting lineup by coach signed , who joined EDG as a coach in May. Smoggy's role as the secondary Duelist and Controller player was split up, with CHICHOO picking up some reps as a Controller while signed played the Duelist and Sentinel roles.

After capturing a thrilling 18-16 win on BBL's pick of Lotus, EDG faltered on the following maps, losing its pick of Ascent 13-7 and then losing Sunset 13-3. Both teams had interesting theories on the latter two maps, with different double-Sentinel comps. On Sunset, BBL fielded a Deadlock-Viper comp that was popularized by Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #5 Ash Ha Hyun-cheol (하현철) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Efina Kim Nak-yeon (김낙연) Raxcal Kim Min-seok (김민석) last year at Masters Toronto. Meanwhile, EDG leaned into ZmjjKK 's technical strengths, keeping him on Chamber for the final two maps with CHICHOO on Sage.

In the other Group A series, 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #1 Cryocells Matthew Panganiban Asuna Peter Mazuryk vora Jordan Pulwer Timotino Timothée Lavigne Dupont bang Sean Bezerra downed Rex Regum Qeon Rex Regum Qeon Asia-Pacific Rank #5 Monyet Cahya Nugraha xffero David Monangin Xan Xan Ng Jemkin Maksim Batorov Kushy Bryan Carlos Setiawan crazyguy Ngô Công Anh handily in a 2-0 victory. The map gave a first glimpse into how the new-look RRQ would play, with Xan replacing Monyet in the starting lineup. The 19-year-old took on Monyet's role directly, playing Neon and Omen.

On RRQ's Ascent, a clash between modern and classic took place, with RRQ's Veto-Sage double-Sentinel comp clashing with 100T's Cypher-centric comp with Jett and Phoenix. After wrapping up an 8-4 defense half, 100T had a solid enough attack side, clinching the map 13-10.

Gira Timotino , Gira!

On Breeze, 100T used the smoke-heavy, solo Controller comp that it has become iconic for, with Phoenix, Neon, Cypher, and Harbor. While claiming both pistols on the map, 100T stomped RRQ, once again claiming eight rounds on the defense side before pulling off a near-perfect attack to win 13-5.

100T and BBL will meet in the Group A winner's match, while EDG and RRQ will fight to stave off elimination against each other. Both matches will take place after one day of rest.

Group B

A stacked Group B had a regional matchup between Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #2 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen PROFEK Dawid Święć Derke Nikita Niko Sirmitev Chronicle Timofey Khromov Sayonara Ștefan Mîtcu and Karmine Corp Karmine Corp Europe Rank #18 dos9 Zhumagali Dastan LewN Burak Alkan Avez Hazem Khaled SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin N4RRATE Marshall Massey , and a clash between international rivals NRG NRG North America Rank #3 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold and Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 invy Adrian Jiggs Reyes Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov . The group, which has three Masters London attendees, is one of the more stacked in the competition.

Team Vitality has historically dominated the all-French derby against Karmine Corp, owning a 3-1 advantage in the partnership era and a 7-1 advantage in all competitions. That domination continued on the EWC stage, with Vitality opening by stealing KC's map pick of Haven. Both teams went with a double-Duelist look, but Vitality's double-dive Waylay-Jett pairing was more clinical in this matchup, leading to a 13-8 win.

On Lotus, both teams leaned into Omen-Viper with Fade as the solo Initiator, while VIT had Vyse as its Sentinel and KC had Chamber. Vitality, starting on defense, got much more value, particularly from rising star Sayonara . The Moldovan had 17 kills in the half alone, helping his side to an 8-4 halftime lead. On attack, Derke paved the way forward, with 13 of his 21 kills coming on that side, which eventually helped VIT to a 13-9 win.

Sayonara goes airborne.

After meeting four times at two different Masters events throughout the years, NRG and PRX met in a non-Masters event for the first time. Across four meetings dating back to Masters Tokyo in 2023, PRX has won three times against NRG.

The series opened on PRX's Fracture. PRX, after some tinkering with f0rsakeN on Neon earlier in the year, continued with its double-Initiator look, while NRG used a Phoenix-Waylay comp. PRX's defense seemed much stronger, coming away with seven first bloods to NRG's five which led to a 7-5 lead before starting its attack side. On attack, PRX won the first four rounds, reaching match point three rounds later and converting on it a further three rounds later.

NRG's pick of Lotus appeared to have started disastrously, with a PRX thrifty derailing any early momentum on its attack, but NRG stabilized soon after. NRG claimed seven attack rounds, and then played a perfect defense, closing out the map 13-5 and bringing the two teams to the decider map, Breeze. On Breeze, keiko on Jett proved to be a cheat code once again. He led the charge on attack, taking on eight first duels and winning five of them to open up the map for NRG, leading to an 8-4 lead at half. NRG shut down PRX's would-be bonus after losing the pistol round to start the second half, and both sides traded punches before NRG found the edge, winning 13-10.

NRG and Vitality will meet in Group B's upper bracket for their first-ever meeting, while PRX and KC will play in an elimination match for their first meeting since last year's rendition of the event.

Up next

EWC will continue with the following matches: