Siege – National Leagues Conclude, Vitality, Rogue, Soniqs, DZ at the Major

Yesterday, both the North American and European League concluded. Until the very last matches, the Top 4s weren’t set and nobody knew who’d be going to the Major in Sweden. Upsets and chokes completely changed up the eventual standings.

NAL: TSM choke sends DarkZero to Sweden

After a loss to Astralis, DZ suddenly stood with their backs against the wall. In a best case scenario, they would only get 12 points in total – not enough to surpass TSM, if they were to win against Mirage. In everyone’s eyes, this was a surefire victory.

But then, Mirage put up an incredible Clubhouse defense. Team SoloMid failed to win a single round on attack and choked their way into defeat. In the last match of the day, DZ secured a quick 7-2 versu beastcoast. This way, DarkZero still made their way past TSM and even though they were tied for points, after their 8-6 win on Day 4, the head-to-head comparison fell in their favor. So DZ will get another shot at a Major!

XSET almost entered overtime versus SSG. Had they done that, they would have managed to escape relegation. But due to that missing round, they remained on the same score as beastcoast, who won out in the head-to-head count. Soniqs failed to win against Oxygen, but have remained in the Top 4 on 14 points.

Cowana secure Major slot for Rogue

On the second-to-last day of matches, Cowana Gaming felt relatively sure of making the Top 4. After all, they only had to go up against the worst team in EUL, Heroic. This was a safe victory and should have given them enough points for a fourth place. But in the end, things took a different turn, as Heroic dismantled them with a 7-2 scoreline. This upset pushed Cowana down to sixth place. Even though Rogue lost out against Vitality, they still made their way to the Top 4 thanks to this unlikely choke. Vitality even got into third place! After a few failed attempts, they’re going to attend their first ever Major in this new regional league format.

Natus Vincere are the biggest disappointment of the year. After a first place in Stage 1, they dropped to third place in Stage 2, all the way to an eighth place in Stage 3 now. In regulation time, they only managed to defeat G2 and Secret. Even Heroic managed to drag them into overtime.

Thanks to their upset win, Heroic managed to save themselves from last place. But unlike the NAL, EUL counts the performance across the year for the relegation spot, which means that they’re still dropping down to Challenger League next year. Two more wins would have helped them past Secret, but after a year of struggles, their exit isn’t completely undeserved. Sure, there were some external circumstances they had no control over, but every other team this year has managed to show more – even Secret.

So the list of participants for the upcoming Six November Major in Sweden is set. Vitality and Rogue are excited to enter offline competition, while the old giants in SSG and BDS have never looked stronger before. Maybe this is finally going to be the tournament in which they set themselves on top of the other regions.