After a few wild playdays, the first stage of Group A has finally wrapped up, which means the standings have been locked in, and we have the teams that will advance to the playoffs.
‘Group A’ Upper Bracket
As we’ve explained earlier, only the top four teams of the groups will advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs. In group A, the 2 EU teams – Team Empire and BDS – and 2 LATAM teams – Team Liquid and FaZe – have secured their place in the top four positions.
Team BDS came into this tournament as one of the favourites; however, their EU rivals Empire managed to rise back to the top after some massive performances from their players, specifically JoyStiCK. The Russian cyborg JoyStiCK seemed to have found back his rhythm, as he finished the group stages with the highest K-D difference of +46, with the 2nd highest only being +26.
While both Team Liquid and FaZe Clan didn’t look as clinical as the top EU teams, they still are in the upper brackets, which means they will essentially have a double-elimination benefit in the playoffs.
‘Group A’ Lower Bracket
The 5th-9th placed teams of group A will also be advancing to the playoffs; however, they will be in a single-elimination tournament, so every match will be do or die for them. The group A teams qualified for the lower brackets include: Team oNe, DarkZero, FURIA, G2, and Cloud9.
All these five teams have had some disappointing matches in the group stages that led them to fall to the lower brackets. But the teams still have a chance to get to the finals. Although the road will be tough, they’ll still try their best to reach the Grand Finals and lift the Hammer.
CYCLOPS – The 1st team to get eliminated
Amidst all the exciting action yesterday, CYCLOPS athlete gaming was eliminated, as they finished the group stage in the last place. However, CAG put up a tough fight on the last playday, as they took the 1st-placed Team Empire to full overtime on Kafe. With the score being 7-7, CAG managed to end up in a 5v5 post-plant situation on the attacking side. Unfortunately, they failed to turn that around into a round win, thus missing the crucial 1 point.
CAG continued their strong form in the next match, as they defeated Team oNe on Oregon with a 7-3 scoreline. On the other hand, DarkZero beating Cloud9 meant that either CAG or Cloud9 would get eliminated, and moreover, G2 narrowly escaped the 10th-place finish.
It was all up to CAG to decide if they will advance to the playoffs or not, and their last matchup was against the mighty Team BDS. But CAG wasn’t going out without a tough fight, as they put up a spectacular show on Kafe Dostoyevsky, taking the match to full overtime once again. But the outcome was exactly the same as against Team Empire, with CAG receiving another heartbreaking 8-7 loss, meaning they are out of the Six Invitational 2021.
CYCLOPS athlete gaming will receive $40,000 from the SI prize pool, but they’ll be flying out of France within 48 hours, following strict COVID protocols.
Another team gets eliminated today from Group B, so stay tuned for the latest updates.
