After a strong start from the Minor League teams, it was time for the Major League to warp to the arena and fight for their first victories in the EVE_NT Championship.

Just before the show got underway, this season’s long-awaited prize was revealed on the o7 Show; this season’s teams are playing for the lion’s share of the exclusive IGC Raven SKINs!

Clevergirls vs Phalanx

Both teams charged straight into the fray, Clevergirls’ Rokh being held down while his team made short work of the shields and armour of Phalanx’s Prophecy. With a logi on both sides, it quickly became a battle of repairs, with the Exequror of Phalanx just unable to keep up with the damage piling on to the Prophecy. With the battlecruiser down, Clevergirls’ sights were now set on the Dragoon and Hyperion, finally breaking both of them as their Rokh finally started to slip into structure. Phalanx had just a Tristan and Exequror remaining, sadly unable to pick up a kill, and awarding the first domination victory of the Major League to Clevergirls.

ProviShotZ vs Team Johnny

The first outing for the Atron thanks to Team Johnny, though it was their Dragoon that took the brunt of the damage as they focused on the Hurricane of ProviShotZ. Team Johnny’s Exequror seemed to be handling the damage to his team just fine as they destroyed the Thrasher and Hurricane of the Provi team. Without any dedicated logi of their own, it was down to a Scorpion/Caracal/Slasher combo to try and claw back a kill- but despite taking the Exequror into armour, they struggled to apply any serious damage. The second domination victory of the evening went to Team Johnny.

The Charlatans vs Team Pretty

The Rifter and Algos of Team Pretty were caught in the opening fire from The Charlatans, with the Algos giving up first blood while the Charlatans team seemed mostly unscathed. The other two support ships of Team Pretty were the next targets, though Charlatan’s Scythe also slowly started to yo-yo between half and full shields thanks to logi drones. A war of attrition set in, neither team making any headway for a number of minutes; until both logi ships started to slip into structure at roughly the same time. With only a minute and a half remaining, it would be the Exequror of Team Pretty that dropped first, Charlatans managing to take out a Rifter in quick succession before finally losing their own Scythe. As time was called, it was a win for the Charlatans.
 

The Other Team vs Volta

Last season’s Major League winners, The Other Team sported the IGC SKIN on their Typhoon as they faced off against Volta. The first Dominix of the season followed their Algos teammate into structure and then death, though Volta were able to pick up a kill on The Other Team’s Osprey in response. Volta’s Harbinger was the next target, full control being applied and a huge amount of incoming damage making short work of the Amarrian battlecruiser. With their Augoror dropping soon after and just a Vigil left on the field, it was all the little frigate could do to evade for as long as possible to try and deny The Other Team that extra match point. Sadly it was not to be, and The Other Team claimed their first win of the season.
 

Clevergirls vs ProviShotZ

ProviShotZ’ Rifter was dangerous close to the Tempest as the match began, doing its best to hold it down while falling into armour; the Provi team’s Exequror managed to land reps as the Clevergirls’ Tempest dropped into armour itself. Despite the initial burst of damage on the potentially bait-tanking Tempest, it would be the Myrmidon of ProviShotZ that would be the first casualty of the match. Clevergirls’ Osprey would be the second, leaving the red team without logistics as his team switched damaged onto the Provi team’s Megathron. The battleship fell, followed a minute later by his Exequror teammate. ProviShotZ did manage to pick up a second kill on the Merlin, but a second victory of the day went to Clevergirls.

The Charlatans vs Phalanx

Repositioning was the order of the match for the first couple of minutes, Charlatans’ bigger ships taking significant shield damage as they seemed to struggle to get a hold of the targets they wanted. The tide of damage turned, with the Charlatans picking up a strong trade as their Rifter died just seconds before Phalanx’s Typhoon. The shield team lost their Scythe next, Phalanx taking their opponents’ Algos down to just a sliver of structure before its armour was saved by the Augoror of Charlatans. With their Slasher also down, Phalanx’s Talwar and Drake were made short work of, The Charlatans claiming themselves a second win.
 

The Other Team vs Team Johnny

Another first outing for a ship in this tournament, this time the Brutix of Team Johnny; who also ended up as first blood to an un-fazed and almost untouched Other Team. The damage and control rolled onto the Hyperion next, leaving just the support ships of Team Johnny left to duke it out against the full might of The Other Team. The Algos would be next to fall, and it was all up to The Other Team to clean up and grab a second win -as well as the third domination victory- to round off the night.

A very strong start to our Major League; three domination victories in just the first week, with The Other Team matching Clevergirls in both League and Match points to vye for the top spot of the table at the end of the opening night.
 

A full rundown of the match results and points scored is available over on our Arena site, along with information on the rules and ship fittings of this season’s Championship.

The Major League teams will return to Thunderdome on February 26th, while the second round for the Minor League kicks off at 1900 UTC on February 19th - join us over on Twitch for even more explosions and epic battles!