Day 1 of the ESL Intel Extreme Masters American Championships is complete, and Day 2 will be getting under way shortly. The first day's recap is here, along with a preview of things to come for Day 2.

The first day of the IEM American Championships was filled with intense matches and a few surprises as the eight qualified players took to the stage for four spots in the elimination bracket. While some results, like Huk's complete domination, were well expected and almost taken for granted,  others, like Kiwikaki's weaker performance, took many by surprise.

Group A went pretty much as expected. Huk was as hot as a blue flame, tearing through his opponents with relative ease, while cool as ice all the same. He never seemed even the slightest bit out of control. He displayed why he was the favorite to win this event, only looking uncomfortable for one game against Drewbie, but even then he recovered from that and came back and controlled the next game. Drewbie taking second was no shock, but the nature in which he did was surely a bit surprising to many followers. The Canadian Terran opened strong against the upstart Terran Murder, taking a 2-0 victory over him. He then played a close series against Huk, losing 2-1. Moving into the match against teammate Suggy, who had lost both of his matches at that point, Drewbie didn't seem to be in for a difficult time. However, his teammate got the better of him, taking the series 2-1. Drewbie advanced by virtue of game differential over Suggy and Murder, but it's almost a given that he would have rather advanced more comfortably with a win over Suggy. Murder, even though scoring a lack-luster third place finish in the group, showcased strong mechanics and excellent decision making in the group stages. Although he took an early bow in the tournament, his gameplay was a statement - Murder will be a successful name you will see for a long time to come.

Group B seemed to be going according to the general predictions at the start. After the first three matches, Fenix and Kiwikaki were both in position to advance without any hitches, their match only being a formality for who got to face Huk first. Both had swept Complexity Gaming's Silver, who seemed completely outclassed in his group, not managing to win a single game. The second match of the second round changed the entire shape of group B. After qxc opened the first game against teammate Kiwikaki with a serious blunder, going for reapers and losing quickly, the Terran player pulled off an unlikely comeback, winning the next two games in convincing fashion, and putting his teammate in a win or go home situation against Fenix in the last round, who had looked convincingly dominant the entire day. The Canadian Protoss only needed to win by any margin to advance, but even that was a hefty challenge in itself. Kiwikaki came close, but eventually fell two games to one, and his teammate took the second spot in the group behind the Peruvian Terran.

Going into today's matches, Huk will take on qxc at 2:30 PM Eastern and drewbie will face off against Fenix at 4:20 PM. In the first semifinal, Huk should be the far-and-away favorite. His performance in the group stage was complete domination, and he has been a head and shoulders above the rest of the competition for a while now, providing both entertaining and skillful games. Qxc has proven himself to be able to perform when the pressure is on, but he still has a long way to go before he reaches Huk's level of play. An upset is possible, as the Terran surprised many in Day[9]'s King of the Beta tournament to end the beta and took a semifinal spot against some of the best players in the world, but Huk has been improving at an ever-increasing rate and has been playing phenomenally as of late, especially in major tournaments. His macro during the group stages seemed on another level compared to the rest of the field, and that alone can carry him a good distance.

In the second semifinal we have an interesting matchup. On paper, Fenix is the easy choice to win this, and his results from the first day back that up. But Drewbie managed to surprise many yesterday with how he pushed Huk to the edge in their second game. With the right conditions, Drewbie has a good shot, but the edge still lies in the Peruvian Terran player's favor.  Fenix was just incredibly dominant during the group stages, only dropping a single game throughout the day to Kiwikaki.  Drewbie will have his hands full, and Fenix should be the favorite to win and advance to the finals.

These two matches comprise the second day of play at the IEM American Championships today. ESL will be broadcasting both matches casted by Day[9] and TheGunrun, so you can follow them live. If you're in the New York area, be sure to check out the event and meet up with IE's Peawok, Dinosaur and Neoteny. Check back to Insider Esports for updates on both the StarCraft 2 and the CounterStrike tournaments throughout the day.