A total of 16 games will take place tomorrow in the first of three group stage play days of the Six Jönköping Major. Every team will play twice, starting from 10:30AM CET (UTC+2), across two channels.
With so many games happening, it may be hard to keep a track of all of them, so here are the three biggest games to watch on day one, and why they are so important.
10:30AM -- CYCLOPS athlete gaming vs Black Dragons e-Sports
Black Dragons’ first game outside of Brazil in almost five years will be the opening match on Stream B. Here they will face CAG, Japan’s lone representatives, making this a battle between two of Siege’s biggest fanbases.
There will be an incredible amount of excitement from Brazil about Black Dragons’ return to the top, making this game a must-watch for fans of the region. While they may not be as big names as the likes of FaZe Clan or Team Liquid, they were leading the BR6 League up until the final play day. They shouldn’t be dismissed.
For CAG, meanwhile, they will look at Group A and possibly see their best chance to escape their group ever. While Soniqs will almost certainly top the group, the second playoff spot will be between them, MNM, and Black Dragons. Out of the three, though, CAG have the most experience here. Their main issue is their awful global record -- just one win in 10 games this year -- but if they are to improve that, they will not have a much better chance than a nearly-full debutant team.
5:10PM -- Wolves Esports vs FaZe Clan
While the Wolves are the top-seeded team in this group, FaZe Clan are a force that’s hard to stop. Wolves have always looked less lethal outside of the EUL, as Berlin marked the first time in three attempts that they were able to make it to the playoffs. There, they had been against the only new team at the event and an Oxygen Esports lineup who had just dropped Gabriel "LaXInG" Mirelez just prior to the tournament.
Nevertheless, they’re here after winning the EUL for the second stage running -- a first for the region -- showing that their play style can work when needed. Have they finally been able to convert this to wins against other play styles from across the world?
FaZe Clan, meanwhile, have finished their last three tournaments in first, third, and second place over just the last year. Three months ago, they were also just one round away from the Six Major title. There are a lot of ways to express FaZe’s successes, all of which make them look an inch away from being the best in Siege again.
FaZe are also one of only three rosters alongside CAG and MNM to have not made any changes in the last six months. Their success is their own and they only seem to be growing. With Wolves being the main competitors in Group D, they’ll want to make an early example on their projected path to the grand final.
7:50PM -- w7m esports vs Spacestation Gaming
After winning the BR6 League two stages running and reaching the semi-finals of the Six Berlin Major, w7m dropped their in-game leader and replaced him with the ex-World Champion, Julio "Julio" Giacomelli.
At the time, SiegeGG wrote that it would likely be seen in retrospect as insane, self-destructive, and stupid… or w7m will win a Major. W7m vs SSG will give us a first glimpse at how well this new leadership works in a meeting of two regional titans, as they’ll close off Stream A.
SSG themselves are one of only three core rosters in attendance to have won a title before, alongside TSM and FaZe. They have been world champions before and hope to reach those heights again by bringing on Alexander "Yeti" Lawson from Soniqs. He has excelled in this new position, finishing with the highest SiegeGG Rating of all NA players in attendance at the Major.
Now him, the SI-winning trio, and NAL’s player of 2021, Matthew "Hotancold" Stevens, may be a rather solid choice for North American fans. While TSM and Soniqs both qualified ahead of them, SSG are the only NA representative not to include any players in their debut global event and rookie year.