Fragadelphia group stage comes to a close

The group stage finally started after the Last Chance Qualifier saw some amazing games yesterday. A certain British team had to catch an early flight after getting scattered in Nuke by EG.PA. Alongside the Evil Geniuses White (EG.PA) squad, EG Black (EG.CD), BIG Academy, oNe, Victorum, Apeks, BLVKHVND, and Detonate all made it through to the main event of Fragadelphia 17.

With the start of the group stage, today is the debut day for the invited squads, those being Iron Blood, Argon, ATK, Davenport University, Homeless (Squirtle Squad), Phantom Troupe, Vendetta, and Electrify Steel.

16 teams started the first day in the competition but only eight will still be fighting for glory tomorrow, in the playoffs.

11:00PM - Last matches have come to a close and playoffs are set!

The games have all now finished and the playoff bracket will be announced shortly!

06:30PM - Last matches of the first day of the main stage in order

After many games in the group stage have passed, the playoff picture is becoming more clear by the day. The winners of the winner's matches and the decider's matches will continue in the playoffs tomorrow.

04:45PM - Round 2 continues on

After two maps, some of the matches are done while others continue on to their deciding maps. Surely an interesting time, soon we'll see who qualifies to playoffs and who goes home empty-handed.

02:40PM - The stage is set for Round 2 of the group stage

For this round, winning teams will face each other in a best-of-three series, where the winner proceeds directly to the quarterfinals. Teams that lost in the first round will also face each other but with the objective of staying in the tournament. After that, the winner of the loser bracket will face the loser of the winning bracket in a decisive match to see who is the last team of each group going into the playoffs of Fragadelphia 17.

The bracket for round 2 is:

02:10PM - Squirtle Squad shock Apeks!

Iron Blood was the last team to win a series in the first set of games of the day. The debutant organization took down Victorum 2-1 in the only three-map series of round 1 of the group stage. Iron Blood and BIG Academy are set to face each other, as well as Victorum and Argon will try to stay in the tournament.

The North American team beat Richard "shox" Papillon and company 2-0 after a second map double overtime thriller. Under "USA! USA!" chants, the orgless RMR-bound team managed to overcome a 14-7 score and finish the map with a 22-19 win. Today, all of North America won. Squirtle Squad will now play against oNe to decide who goes directly to the Quarterfinals and who needs to play another to make it through to the playoffs.

EG.CD have taken down Davenport University 2-0. The collegiate team couldn't win their Nuke pick, but managed to put together a good CT-side. After going down 13-2 in the first half, the Davenport team nearly got back in the game, but ultimately lost 16-11. Group C will now have ATK facing EG.CD and Davenport University facing BLVKHVND.

Detonate win the series against Electrify Steel after nearly losing the first map. The team managed to come back from a 14-1 deficit in the first map and have now swept Electrify Steel after stealing their map pick of Inferno 16-12. Detonate will face EG.PA in the winner's match of group D, while Vendetta and Electrify Steel fight to stay alive in the loser's matchup.

01:26PM - A couple of teams have speedran the first series

BIG Academy was the first team to take a win in the group stage of Fragadelphia 17. The Germans made quick work of Argon in both maps and are now waiting on the winner of the Iron Blood vs Victorum game. Victorum managed to steal Iron Blood's map pick after they lost their own and are now hoping to best the former timbermen squad in the Inferno decider.

oNe was the second team to win a series today. The Brazilians completely shut down Phantom Troupe on Nuke, 16-5. Squirtle Squad and Apeks have gone into double overtime! The European roster couldn't close their Mirage map pick after reaching a 14-7 scoreboard. The orgless American team is looking to shock everyone with a 2-0 sweep.

ATK is first to win in group C as the British of BLVKHVND couldn't get a response to the firepower of the American duo of Ian "motm" Hardy and Michael "Swisher" Schmid.

The first map of the game between Detonate and Electrify Steel has finally come to an end after two overtimes. Detonate managed to come back to a win in their own map pick. EG.PA defeated Vendetta after Jonathan "Jonji" Carey took over the second map with a 114.3 ADR.

12:50PM - First maps are finishing

The new org in CS:GO, Iron Blood, has started its stint in the game with a win over Victorum. BIG Academy is continuing to show a high level of play by dismantling Argon.

The biggest foreign team in the tournament opened the group stage with a loss against the Squirtle Squad. The Americans showed up to Inferno T-side with the textbook under their arms and put Apeks one map behind. The oNe roster has taken their map pick of Dust2 and now will look to close the series on Phantom Troupe's Nuke.

The first map to finish in group C was BLVKHVND's pick of Dust2 which they lost after a close first half but a second one with no response to ATK's offense. William "RUSH" Wierzba led EG.CD to a win against Davenport University after a failed plant from the collegial team that resulted in a round and map loss.

EG.PA won Overpass against Vendetta and are now looking to close the series out on Vendetta's Mirage. Ben "ben1337" Smith put up incredible numbers to help his team get the map win in their group stage debut. The game between Detonate and Electrify Steel has gone into overtime, after Johnny "JDubs" Wu and co. managed to recover from a huge deficit on their own Nuke pick.

11:56AM - Teams gear up for opening matches

We are just minutes away from the start of the main stage of Fragadelphia 17! Sixteen squads will be duking it out in BO3s across four different groups, and by the end of the day, only eight teams will be left competing for the grand prize. These are the opening matches for the group stage: