The August 2021 Major will take place starting tomorrow in Mexico City after the pandemic forced the cancellation of the previous three Six Majors.
This closed-door event will face the four best teams from each region (with the exception of APAC, which has three representatives) in the second face-to-face tournament of the year after the Six Invitational 2021 last May.
Let's take a look at the 15 participating teams and what can be expected of them in Mexico.
Go to:
- The format
- The teams
- SiegeGG predictions
The format
From Monday to Wednesday a tournament divided into four groups will be played following a round-trip format with best-of-one matches.
After the conclusion of the matches, the best two of each group will participate in a playoffs with matches to the best of three maps. These will be held from Friday to Sunday and will follow a single elimination format; thus, the final will be the best of five maps and there will be no head start for either participant.
These matches will be cast in English and will feature well-known characters on the scene, as well as ex-player Skys or MonteCristo, one of the most popular faces in esports.
The tournament will feature two different casts for Spanish-speaking fans; a cast for the Latin American fans and another for the Spanish fans. While the first will feature familiar faces such as Ángel Lord or Foxtrot, streaming in Spanish will feature Alex Polo and company.
The teams
Due to the fact that the Knights will not be able to travel to Mexico due to Australian restrictions, the event will have 15 participants:
North America
Spacestation Gaming - ThinkingNade, Rampy, Bosco, Fultz, Hotancold, Lycan (Trainer), sov (Assistant Trainer), and Luke (Analyst)
Spacestation Gaming seeks a new style to meet victory in Mexico
- TSM FTX - Achieved, Beaulo, Geometrics, Chala, Pojoman, and Daeda (Trainer)
Geo returns to Mexico, this time representing TSM and wanting to win the Major
- Susquehanna Soniqs - super, Gryxr, Yeti, Rexen, kanzen, and jobro (Trainer)
- DarkZero Esports - Hyper, Ecl9pse, njr, BC, Panbazou, Mint (Trainer), and Grant (Analyst)
DarkZero and its experiences in OT, plus a renewed style before Mexico
Europe
Team Empire - ShepparD, JoyStiCK, Scyther, Dan, Always, RayzerGM (Coach), and Zheka (Analyst)
Natus Vincere - Doki, Saves, Blurr, Secretly, Nathan, jahk (Trainer), and DraZ (Trainer)
Latin America
Ninjas in Pajamas - Kamikaze, Psycho, Julio, Muzi, pino, and Mity (Trainer)
Are we facing the beginning of a new dynasty?
- Team oNe eSports - Lagonis, KDS, Alem4o, Levy, Neskin, TchubZ (Coach), and RafadeLL (Analyst)
Alem4o, a Team oNe with a unique personality seeks success in Mexico
APAC
CYCLOPS athlete gaming - Anitun, SuzuC, Gatorada, Ayagator, BlackRay, Fuji3 (Coach), and Hybrid (Analyst)
"Even more aggressive" is the way to go in Mexico to be "the best in APAC," according to Hybrid.
In addition to the problems suffered by the Australian Knights team, the closest team to be considered as a local team, TSM, suffered a similar blow since Merc tested positive for COVID and, therefore, will not be able to participate. Instead, Pojoman will rejoin the team as he did during the last stage, which will force some last minute changes.
This is a problem since although they finished second in the NA League, the team is in Group D, considered the most difficult of all and that could result in an early exit of the only Mexican player in the event, Geo.
Even if this were to happen, the NA League is well represented by SSG who will play in a not too complicated group, since they will face the third best team in Europe (Na'Vi) and FURIA, a team with little experience to international level.
In addition, the current world champions NiP are the favorites in Group C where they will face G2 Esports and their new German signings, DZ, who had an interesting season with a 1-6-0-1 record, in addition to DWG KIA, one of the two teams that arrive at the event without any international experience.
In addition to DWG we have the Soniqs, who despite securing a pass to Mexico on the last day of the NAL, are the only North American team to finish within the Top 4 in both Stage 1 and Stage 2. This team is in one of the most even groups, where they will have to face CYCLOPS as well as BDS Esport and Team oNe, led by Shaiiko and Alem4o respectively.
SiegeGG predictions
With this in mind, what are people's opinions about the event?
Note: Most of these predictions were made before Merc's COVID-positive was announced.
Group A
Starting with Group A, BDS and oNe are the two clear favorites to survive the group with the French as the main candidates to achieve it despite finishing fourth in EUL Stage 2. However, CYCLOPS, who won the APAC North, remain in third place on the list of favorites just ahead of inexperienced Soniqs.
Some of the facts about Group A predictions:
- Although six people chose oNe as the leader of the group, none of them are from LATAM.
- Only four people believe that BDS will finish outside of the Top 2, including two of the three Japanese casters.
- Despite finishing EUL Stage 2 in fourth place, BDS is the only European team to take the top spot in predictions by a majority.
B Group
Next we have Group B in which there is no surprise since the favorites are Spacestation Gaming after their excellent participation in the last stage of the NAL. Right behind we have Na'Vi and FURIA, who are very even despite the Europeans narrowly taking second place in the predictions.
Some of the facts about Group B predictions:
- SSG and Na'Vi matched in Group B, at the time it was predicted that they would finish third and fourth.
- The five LATAM casters are among the fourteen people who believe that FURIA will survive the group.
- All NA casters believe this possible prediction.
Group C
In Group C everyone believes that the reigning Six Invitational champions will qualify for the playoffs, with three European casters and two APAC casters placing G2 in first place. In general, G2 are the main candidates to be second in the group while DWG is in last place, due to their lack of experience.
Some of the facts about Group C's predictions:
- The only caster who believes in DWG is Australian caster Guzz, who has placed them second to G2 and DZ.
- Two of the four people who have put DZ in second place are from Mexico.
- APAC casters have ranked DZ below DWG.
Group D
Finally, the Group of Death. After finishing as finalists at SI21, most casters believe Liquid will outlive the group, while half believe they will pass as first. Empire is just above TSM in what is a surprising pick considering that most of the predictions were made before the announcement on Merc.
Ultimately, most believe that Invictus Gaming will finish last.
Some of the facts about Group A predictions:
- More people believe iG will make it to the playoffs than DWG as four people believe that Singapore will make it, while only one person believes that the Koreans will outlive their group.
- The Singaporean casters have iG while the Mexicans put TSM in the Top 2, while the Brazilians put Liquid as second.
- The only non-APAC caster that doesn't put DWG last is Hap, who was also one of only two non-APAC casters to pick CAG in Group A.
Grand finale
Surely the most curious thing about these numbers is that more people think that Liquid will reach the Grand Final than NiP, despite the fact that NiP was proclaimed champion of the SI21 and the Elite Six Stage 2 Cup.
However, a rematch between NiP and Liquid is the favorite while a possible match between SSG and TSM follows closely behind.
Europe is the only continent that was chosen in all the groups, being the only region to achieve it; however, both Empire and Na'Vi are not ranked as favorites.
Finally, regarding the possible MVP that Paluh took in the past SI21. While 16 players in total were chosen by the casters - seven of them from LATAM and three from other regions - below you will find the names:
While Paluh, Pine, and Nesk are surprising, probably the biggest name is the non-mention of names like Beaulo or Shaiiko.
Staff predictions
In addition to the 26 casters who usually predict results throughout the week, we asked a few other people about the group stage and which teams they think will take first and second place.
Also, you can take a look at the SiegeGG staff predictions:
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