Six Mexico Major: Group Stage Ends, Playoffs Coming Up

The playoffs for the Six Mexico Major are closing in! The second LAN tournament of the year has already sifted out a lot of lesser teams and now, eight top teams are heading for the last phase of the event.

GROUP A: BDS SHOW UP IN DOMINANT FASHION

BDS made their way to the top after the first two maps already. CAG and oNe stood no chance. When they then went on to beat Susquehanna Soniqs, they were almost guaranteed to reach playoffs. They still needed their wins on the last match-day, but that proved to be no struggle for them. So Team BDS are entering the playoffs with the highest possible seed and only have to go up against a second-placed team from another group. After a tiebreaker match, oNe narrowly made it past CAG to successfully advance from the group.

GROUP B: SSG SUCCEED IN MINIATURE GROUP

After the Knights were unable to attend the event, Group B only featured three contestants. Natus Vincere showed early on that they weren’t cut out to succeed here, so it was obvious that SSG and FURIA would make playoffs. The only remaining question concerned the placement and eventual seeding of each team. But Spacestation Gaming were quick to take the lead and secured first place. So they’re also getting the best seeding possible for the upcoming playoffs bracket.

GROUP C: DARKZERO AND DAMWON

So far, the Mexico Major has been plagued with technical issues. We’ve constantly seen rehosts and stream blackouts throughout the last three days. Due to additional issues, the last match between DAMWON and DarkZero couldn’t take place. So before the playoffs commence, these two have to enter the server again. Even though they’re both confirmed for playoffs, they still need to decide on the eventual placement and seeding.

GROUP B: THE LAST HOPE FOR BRAZIL

Brazil is entering the playoffs without NiP. In the Group Stag, the Ninjas dropped the ball so hard that only oNe, FURIA, and Liquid remain. The latter are the only real glimmer of hope for the region, since FURIA and Team oNe have both shown that they’re not on par with the other frontrunners.

At the Six Invitational, Liquid had confidently made their way past all the other teams. They only failed to compete with the Ninjas, who aren’t a problem anymore. After suffering just one loss in the Group Stage, they’re looking strong and confident enough to make their way through these playoffs as well. But now they’re potentially facing off against a resurgent SSG. Even BDS seem to slowly be getting into the groove at this offline competition.

APAC REGION LOSES OUT ON LAST DAY

In the midst of the Group Stage, it looked as though Invictus Gaming, DAMWON, and CYCLOPS athlete gaming could all qualify for the playoffs. The experts were more than impressed and forecast a dominant APAC run. Bringing three teams into the playoffs would definitely have been a historic event. But in the end, the players couldn’t handle the pressure.

Invictus had Liquid and Empire ahead of them. They didn’t play like themselves in both encounters and suffered one-sided losses. The teamwork was lacking, every single IG player was visibly nervous. The team broke under the pressure, and just like that, all playoffs hopes were gone for good.

CAG suffered a similar fate. Failing on their last map versus oNe, they had to enter a tiebreaker with the same team. This map ended with a quick 4-7 score fueled by Karl “Alem4o” Zarth and his dominant display. So CAG became the second APAC team to still miss the Top 8 at the Major.

DAMWON Gaming are the only ones to make it through. With a 7-2 victory on the last day, they managed to lock in their playoffs slot. After the Ninjas then lost to G2 Esports, the distance became so high that it was impossible to catch up with DarkZero and DAMWON.

The playoffs are one big question mark. Teams like SSG, Liquid, and BDS clearly have the upper hand. But the bracket isn’t filled out yet, since we’re still waiting for the match between DarkZero and DAMWON to take place. Without knowing the exact matchups, it’s almost impossible to make predictions – which should make the rest of the tournament even more exciting!