Image: Ubisoft/Michal Konkol
With all that action, here’s a summary of the biggest stories of the week.
- #flag@20:br NiP and FURIA miss out on the November Major
- #flag@20:us Back-to-back misses for DarkZero
- #flag@20:fr French domination in Europe
- #flag@20:kr DWG KIA down in fifth, look likely to miss the Major
- #flag@20:us Reality TV win NACL thanks to Gaveni
NiP and FURIA miss out on the November Major
The Brasileirão League has ended for Stage 3, with w7m esports topping the league for the third stage running despite replacing their in-game-leader during the break.
W7m’s 19 points beat Team Liquid, FaZe Clan, Black Dragons, and Team oNe’s tally of 16, with oNe missing out on the Copa Elite Six tournament by nine rounds in the tiebreaker.
FURIA, the team which had the longest event attendance streak in the world after having qualified for every post-COVID break LAN, finished in sixth place. As such, they will not play at the Copa Elite Six or travel to the November Major.
Ninjas in Pyjamas also finished in 10th place in a very disappointing result for them, but one they’re somewhat used to after finishing Stage 1 in last place. After Stage 1, they opted to replace Julio "JULIO" Giacomelli. Now, with a SI qualifier fight next on their schedule, will they make more changes?
The big surprise in Stage 3 were undeniably Black Dragons. While they still have the CES to go through, the organization is on track to reach its first global event since SI 2018 with the roster that later became NiP. This comes despite Black Dragons just adding one player in the last year and finishing Stage 2 in seventh place.
Back-to-back misses for DarkZero
With just one play day left in stage 3 of the North American League, TSM and SSG have qualified for the Six Major, while Soniqs, Mirage, and Astralis will fight for the final two spots.
This notably leaves DarkZero Esports, XSET, and Oxygen Esports out.
DarkZero won North America’s first and only Six Major title earlier in May, but have missed two Majors since then. Meanwhile, Oxygen had only missed one event since the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals and will now make it two after replacing Gabriel "LaXInG" Mirelez in the recent transfer window.
The Brazilians on XSET, though, had been one of just two rosters alongside G2 Esports to reach the playoffs during both the Charlotte and Berlin Majors. They were the only NA team to exit the groups in Berlin and won two maps off of the eventual champions, Rogue, but now will fail to make it to the third Major of the year.
Now these teams all have a potentially long wait before their next games, as TSM FTX and Spacestation Gaming have returned to form following recent roster changes, while Mirage look to complete a miracle run from two 10th places to the Six Major.
French domination in Europe
Team BDS’s 7-4 victory over Heroic means that they are now the only team to be unbeaten in Europe.
The reason for this is very clear, statistically, as Théo "LikEfac" Mariano is looking to rival William "Spoit" Löfstedt as the rookie of the year. Combined with Stéphane "Shaiiko" Lebleu behind him and Loïc "BriD" Chongthep in support, BDS have been untouchable at their best. Given time to make this best consistent, they may finally be on their way to their very first grand-final or even Major title.
This is amazing news for French fans, but the success doesn’t end there as Wolves Esports’ Bastien "BiBooAF" Dulac and Axel "Shiinka" Freisberg have also been showing up statistically to put Wolves fourth in the EUL, with Heroic and Rogue to be played in a week’s time.
Worth mentioning also are G2 Esports’ struggles. Sitting in ninth place, this is nothing we haven’t seen before and another comeback is fairly likely as their upcoming games over the next two weeks will be versus TT9 Esports, NAVI and MNM Gaming.
DWG down in fifth place, look likely to miss the Major
DWG KIA were APAC’s big breakout team during 2021, going from the Korean Open to APAC North in a matter of weeks, before qualifying for their first Six Major in Mexico. By the Sweden Major, they were also considered legitimate title contenders and came within a 1v1 clutch of knocking out the eventual champions, FaZe Clan, to reach APAC’s first grand-final.
Now, after shockingly poor Gamers8 and Berlin Major campaigns, and after missing out on the Charlotte Major, it looks very likely that DWG will also miss the November Major.
Last week, they lost against REJECT to leave them down in fifth place for their second loss of the stage. While a 2-0-0-2 record is not awful, both CYCLOPS and SANDBOX look formidable and the league only offers two Six Major spots.
The DWG team has not changed since they first made it to APAC North in March 2021. That may no longer be the case in the coming months
Reality TV wins NACL thanks to Gaveni
North America’s Challenger League has come to a close, with a victory by Reality TV thanks in large part to impressive performances from “Gaveni”.
The performance was truly outstanding and sets himself up for a likely pickup into professional tier Siege ahead of the SI qualifiers.
Also particularly of note is SilentEndz, a Mexican player who has impressed over multiple stages and finished with an entry record of +12 and helped Luminosity Gaming to a runners-up finish.
1shotLFO, which includes three ex-professional players, Nathan "nvK" Valenti, Christian "Prod" Gauch, and Dillon "Razorr" Presley dropped from fourth to seventh, while Xavier "Filthy" Garcia and Tim "Creators" Humpherys finished in third place with Vipers eSports.