SemperFi stuns TYLOO, sets up OCE semifinal: GangKui Cup S2 Recap - Day 1

XSE GangKui Cup has kicked off with a bang with hometown heroes TYLOO among the four Chinese squads falling victim to their Asia CS2 counterparts.

Day 2's matchups see same-country head-to-head's, with Chinese fans in-person witnessing the elimination of two of their own on Thursday.

• Read more: GangKui Cup Season 2: Schedule, results, teams, and more

SemperFi drops TYLOO in straight sets

The pressure was on for SemperFi in their opening match against TYLOO with a loss almost burying their Cologne Major hopes — but try telling them that.

The OCE squad stood head and shoulders above TYLOO in their opening series, ambushing the Chinese squad 2-0 (13-11, 13-9) in quite the upset on home soil.

The solo firepower of Yi "JamYoung" Yang was not enough as Jared "HaZR" O'Bree (42-28, 1.55 HLTV rating) led SemperFi to the surprise win.

Ancient was streaky with TYLOO seemingly in control up 11-7 after overcoming a fast start from SemperFi. But, a HaZR one-versus-three into a SemperFi two-versus-four marked a turnaround for the OCE squad, who put on six-straight to snatch their map pick back out of TYLOO's hands.

TYLOO aimed to bounce back on Inferno, but SemperFi once again rallied for a 9-1 run through the middle of the map behind a dual effort from HaZR and captain Kristers "keen" Dārznieks (38-29, 1.15 rating).

TYLOO threatened a comeback of their own but a swift B hit from SemperFi stifled the Chinese squad.

It's a massive result for SemperFi who pick up a bevvy of VRS points with the win. Their job is not done yet — they'll likely need to make the grand final of GangKui Cup to be sure of a major spot.

FlyQuest look locked in ahead of all-OCE matchup

SemperFi's opponent on Thursday, for the first time on LAN, will be compatriots FlyQuest who made quick work of UR in their opener on Wednesday.

The 2-0 (13-6, 13-9) win was FlyQuest's first offline since DracuLAN in February. IGL Joshua "INS" Potter (38-25, 1.49) led from the front, while Justin "jks" Savage (28-23, 1.35) landed critical clutches to ensure FQ kept the rounds flowing.

João "story" Vieira continues to settle in and is looking more comfortable by the day, but the win as a whole cleared plenty of dust from FlyQuest.

They've been quiet this season after missing out at CAC qualifiers in China earlier in March, and heavy point decay has seen them slipping toward elimination from the major race.

Expect them to be plenty prepared as they take on their fellow OCE squad at 2pm AEDT on Thursday, April 2.

Double trouble for China as dual Mongolian squads through in upper bracket

All four Chinese squads at GangKui Cup will play in the lower bracket tomorrow after Mongolian duo The Huns and Chinggis Warriors both netted wins in their opening games.

Rare Atom's woes continue as they fell 2-1 (4-13, 13-6, 13-11) to Chinggis Warriors. Shengxuan "chengking" Zu (21-9, 2.21) was sublime on opener Mirage and RA looked set for the upper bracket.

But Chinggis broke back on RA's own pick of Dust 2 13-6 behind a near-shutout on the CT side, then kept the ball rolling on Ancient behind a monster Zolbayar "tikuak" Chimedtseren performance (25-18, 1.90).

XDM took The Huns by surprise, pushing the Mongolian outfit to triple-overtime in their opener but ultimately falling 2-0 (22-19, 13-6).

Tengis "sk0R" Batjargal (64-36, 1.66) was at his best, dropping 42 kills in the Mirage win before registering an +11.26% round swing rating on Nuke in the one-sided affair.

All four Chinese teams meet in elimination at 5pm tomorrow evening: Rare Atom takes on XDM, while UR plays TYLOO.