November has been a bit of a slow month for Dota 2, but things came back with gusto on Friday with Day 1 of the DreamLeague Major. A whopping eight best-of-three series were played, with the day concluding with the upper bracket finals set and the first round of lower bracket series completed.

Here are the results as they stand today:

Of course, while there were six teams that lost series and six teams that won, not all of them had the same day. Some won bigger, and others lost harder, than their constituents and with that in mind, it’s worth pinpointing who came out on top of Day 1 of the DreamLeague Major and who wound up on the bottom.

Biggest Winner: Team Secret, Cruising to Upper Bracket Finals

It’s been a long time since Team Secret has reeled in a first-place finish at a prestigious LAN event. If Day 1 of the DreamLeague Major is any indication, though, this might be the one as Clement "Puppey" Ivanov looked nigh unstoppable with back-to-back 2-0 wins over Evil Geniuses and Newbee.

It’s difficult to find any flaw with Secret’s big Friday. All four games played out in very similar fashion, with even laning phases giving way to efficient farming and well-executed skirmishes from Secret. The games lasted anywhere from 24 to 45 minutes but each time, the charts looked the same.

It was a near-flawless performance by Secret against a pair of high-level that secures them a minimum of 225 Dota Pro Circuit Qualifying points. The road ahead is difficult, yes, as their Day 2 kicks off with a series against Team Liquid.

With those results against that level of competition, however, they are easily the winners of the DreamLeague Major’s first day.

Biggest Loser: Fnatic, Still Struggling Under the Spotlight

We are a couple months deep into the 2017-2018 competitive Dota 2 season and with that, teams are starting to get a good feel for what works, and what doesn’t, with their rosters. That has resulted in a handful of shakeups to a number of prominent teams and one of the biggest among that lot was Fnatic freshening up its mid position.

European journeyman Steve "Excalibur" Ye was bumped in favor of, on paper, a pure upgrade in SEA standout and now-former Digital Chaos mid Abed Azel L. Yusop (known simply as Abed). It was a strong addition to the team and it was easy to wonder if Abed might be the X-factor to turn Fnatic into a true, world-class contender.

Judging from the DreamLeague Major...nope.

Despite its strong roster, Fnatic was soundly defeated 2-0 by Team Liquid in the upper bracket of Day 1. In both games, rival mid Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barqawi posted a dominant performance and in both games, Fnatic struggled to even remain competitive with the TI7 champions.

While there’s certainly no shame in losing to Liquid, the team’s Day 1 exit was sealed up just hours later. Facing Na’Vi in the lower bracket, Fnatic was bumped from the tournament with a 2-1 series loss.

It’s a tough blow for Fnatic, who could have instantly been rebranded as a top-end contender with a strong performance at the DreamLeague Major. While it’s far too early to stick a fork in Jacky “EternalEnVy” Mao’s squad, this certainly isn’t a great way to start the Abed Era.

Day 2 Preview

There was a lot of action on Day 1 of the DreamLeague Major, but there is plenty more that will go down in the coming days. Here is the lineup of matches set for Saturday:

- Upper Bracket Finals: Team Liquid vs. Team Secret
- Lower Bracket Round 2: Newbee vs. Natus Vincere
- Lower Bracket Round 2: Virtus Pro vs. Evil Geniuses
- Lower Bracket Round 3: Winners of Round 2 Series

That’s a who’s who of top-notch teams and all of those series are compelling in their own ways.

The most compelling, however, is Virtus Pro vs. Evil Geniuses. EG remains one of the most popular teams in Dota 2 but has struggled to bring home any big prizes this season. A strong performance at the DreamLeague Major would really cure what ails them, but falling short in yet another important tournament would start to undermine the team’s standing.

As Einstein once said, though, in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. If EG can climb the VP’s mountain, it will be tough to deny them as one of the game’s elites. That’s a big if, but they might just be up to the task.