Tensions rise as LevelUp! Live opening ceremonies were held this morning,The World Trade Center located at the heart of Pasay City in the Philippines was packed with countless spectators eager to watch another online tournament history in the making. Ragnarok Online World Championships (RWC) is one of the main highlights of this two-day gaming event. Teams from around the globe, champions in their home countries, vie for the glory of being the world champions in this year's tournament. After much formalities during the opening ceremonies, LevelUp! Philippines's gameboss Ben Colayco and Ragnarok Zeny's representative Yoon Seok Kang officially announce the RWC open. Matchups were announced early on in the event's show. There were six matches scheduled for this day, to determine who will take the top slots for tomorrow's semi-finals and final rounds.

Today's matches were decided by scoring the most in a best-of-three rounds. Being the country to host this year's RWC, Team Philippines was slated first to pit against Team Germany, followed by a match between Team Brazil and Team Thailand. Team USA versus Team Russia was the last of the first batch of matchups for the day.

Team Philippines garnered a 2-0 victory against Team Germany in their matchup. The loss of Team Germany's Professor and stripping skills of Team Philippine's Stalker paved the way for Team Philippines to wipe out the rest of the group in both rounds.

In the second matchup, Team Thailand took the lead in the first round, slowly dealing with Brazil's champions, but were unable to wipe the Brazilians out, ending the 5-minute time limit. The second round proved to be a short match between the two, with Thailand wiping out Brazil and emerging victorious once again.

The third matchup proved to be more interesting than the first two, a battle between Team Russia and Team USA. The first round was a battle of wits and stamina for the two teams. With two deaths on both sides late into round 1, it was anybody's win. Tables suddenly turned when Russia took out USA's Professor. Russia cornered USA and continued their barrage until time ran out, giving Russia their first victory in the match. Team USA came back fiercely against Russia on round two in yet another round of stamina and wits. This time, USA's members stood intact whilst two of Russia's best came down, tying the score at 1-1. In sheer unpredictability, Team USA wiped out Russia in less that two minutes of the third round, giving the win of this matchup to Team USA.