ESL One Berlin Major playoffs preview

The group stage of the Berlin Major is over and the playoffs are about to begin. This second stage of the tournament takes place between May 1-7. Every match is best-of-three, with the exception of the Grand Final, which is best-of-five. The format is double-elimination.

A total of 12 teams will compete in this stage. But only the top eight of them will receive prize money and qualification points for The International 12. This makes the first round of the lower bracket extremely tense. And because of the format, even the upper bracket teams risk an early elimination from the tournament.

Upper bracket

Here are the eight participants that will start the race in the upper bracket:

• Gaimin Gladiators
• Team Spirit
• OG
• Team Liquid
• 9 Pandas
• Shopify Rebellion
• Tundra Esports
• PSG.LGD

The favorites for the first round of matches are Gaimin Gladiators, Team Liquid, 9 Pandas, and Tundra Esports. If no upsets happen, Team Spirit, OG, Shopify Rebellion, and PSG.LGD will need to play in the first round of the lower bracket and a defeat there would mean that everything they’ve done so far will be worthless.

Obviously, nobody wants to be in a position to fail like that after working so hard to qualify for the tournament and then secure an upper bracket spot. But it will likely happen in the case of at least one or two strong teams. Statistically speaking, a situation in which all the upper bracket teams finish in the top eight is highly improbable.

One thing to keep in mind during the playoffs of ESL One Berlin Major is that the matches for the last three days of the tournament will take place in a huge arena. This can significantly change how people play because the tension in such a situation is very high.

But for the first four days of the playoffs, we will continue to have matches that are comfortable for the players. They probably won’t be as relaxed as they are when they play from home, but the pressure will be minimal.

Lower bracket

Here are the four teams that are waiting for their opponents in the lower bracket:

• Team Aster
• Xtreme Gaming
• Evil Geniuses
• Talon Esports

All of these teams will start as underdogs regardless of who their opponent will be. In a worst-case scenario, a top competitor like Gladiators or Liquid will drop to the lower bracket early. In such a case, the first match of the lower bracket teams will almost certainly be their last.

Header: Team Liquid