Nigma have officially ended Invictus Gaming’s bid for a repeat Major run, eliminating ONE Esports Singapore winners and joining Vici Gaming in qualifying for the next stage of the WePlay Esports DPC AniMajor.
In an aggressive tiebreaker game to decide who would move and who went home, Nigma charged right through iG’s plans, ending the game with an early push to take the throne.
Vici was the first team to qualify, having recovered from a mixed opening day performance to win both of its day two series against AS Monaco Gambit and iG. That win against iG gave them the necessary jump to avoid any potential tiebreakers and claim the first spot out of the Wild Card.
There were several factors that led to Nigma and iG needing to play in a tiebreaker, including a server crash that caused the second game of Nigma and Team Secret’s series to be remade with the same draft, lanes and starting items.
Secret noted they offered to completely remake the game with new drafts, but Valve stepped in and decided to force use of the same drafts and other elements.
Secret were also eliminated from the Major, meaning that two of the top four teams from the previous Major have already been knocked out. Here are the final standings after the end of the Wild Card.
Rank | Team | Series | Games | Seed |
1 | Vici Gaming | 0-3-0 | 7-3 | Group Stage |
2 | Nigma | 2-2-1 | 6-4 | Group Stage |
3 | Invictus Gaming | 2-2-1 | 6-4 | Eliminated |
4 | Execration | 0-4-1 | 4-6 | Eliminated |
5 | Team Secret | 0-4-1 | 4-6 | Eliminated |
6 | AS Monaco Gambit | 0-3-2 | 3-7 | Eliminated |
The group stage will see six of the eight teams advance into the playoffs. The two top teams will fill out the upper bracket of the playoffs, while the remaining four will all be placed into the lower bracket.