Cloud9 go 0-2 as first day of BLAST Pro Series Istanbul wraps up
Broken block
The first day of BLAST Pro Series Istanbul has come to a close, with the two-day six-team event going through the first two rounds of its group stage.
The first three matches of the event kicked off with Virtus.pro taking on Astralis, with the latter team currently a reigning Major champion. The Danish team's prowess was not absent however, as Astralis crushed the Polish squad on Inferno 16-3.
MIBR's match against Cloud9 wrapped up soon afterwards. While Robin "flusha" Rönnquist presented the best performance out of any Cloud9 players on Dust2, Marcelo "coldzera" David easily dealt with the American-Swedish mix, with MIBR taking the map 16-9.
Representing Turkey in their own country, Space Soldiers brimmed with confidence as they kicked off the first half of Mirage with a 12-3 scoreline against NiP. While the Swedish squad made a valiant attempt to take the game into overtime, a monstrous performance from Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş subdued any opposition, winning Space Soldiers their first map 16-13.
In the second round of the round-robin group stage, Astralis shot Space Soldiers out of orbit, shutting out XANTARES and swiftly closing out Inferno 16-6.
Cloud9 and Virtus.Pro met face-to-face on Mirage, with both teams currently fielding shaky rosters and boasting shaky results. The American squad came out of the first half with a slight lead of 8-7, but let their grip slip as the Polish powerhouse plowed through Cloud9 in the second half, putting VP 1-1 in Istanbul with a 16-13 victory.
The last match of the day, and the only to end in a draw, played out with NiP and MIBR. On Mirage, both teams remained evenly matches throughout the full 30 rounds, with both teams trading rounds. While NiP were the first to reach match point at 15-11, four straight rounds from the Brazillian-American team end the game in a tie.
The schedule for the second — and last — day of BLAST Pro Series Istanbul can be seen below, with times adjusted to EDT:
| Saturday, September 29th | ||
| Round Three | ||
| 7:00 AM |  Space Soldiers vs.  MIBR |
BO1 |
| 7:00 AM |  Astralis vs.  Cloud9 |
BO1 |
| 7:00 AM |  Virtus.pro vs.  NiP |
BO1 |
| Round Four | ||
| 8:20 AM | Cloud9 vs. Space Soldiers |
BO1 |
| 8:20 AM | NiP vs. Astralis |
BO1 |
| 8:20 AM | MIBR vs. Virtus.pro |
BO1 |
| Round Five | ||
| 9:40 AM | Astralis vs. MIBR |
BO1 |
| 9:40 AM | Space Soldiers vs. Virtus.pro |
BO1 |
| 9:40 AM | Cloud9 vs. NiP |
BO1 |
| 1:00 PM | BLAST Stand-off (1v1 tournament) | |
| 2:00 PM | Grand Final | BO3 |
