Top Moments from APAC South Day 5

^{Image: Ubisoft/Kirill Bashkirov}

Here is how Day 5 of the APAC South Division looked like:

• Wildcard Gaming 7-2 Elevate
• Dire Wolves 7-2 Tyde
• Gaimin Gladiators 8-7 Knights

Play of the day: Souffle 1v3 to maintain momentum

Cai "Souffle" Hong-ting and his team were enjoying a smooth run against the weakest team in the league, Tyde, and were 3-0 up on the attack on Chalet. However, despite their lack of points, Tyde feature strong players that began to halt the Taiwanese team's momentum.

Souffle, however, sent a near-perfectly placed and timed grenade down the hatch, dropped down the hatch himself while going prone, dealt with the cross-fire from the blue hallway, and then finished off the last remaining player.

Performances like that are why Dire Wolves are just one win away from the Jönköping Major, with just two points needed from their final two games.

Player of the day: Bouncinballz

New Wildcard Gaming signing Kelton "Bouncinballz" Mclachlan had one of the best matches of any player in APAC South this stage, reeling off kill after kill and leaving Elevate unable to cope.

Elevate, who had got back into Major contention after FURY's loss to Gaimin Gladiators, received a second boost as Atibordee "Sapper" Noichan returned after two weeks away. But Bouncinballz showcased exactly the form that had made him one of the best players in APAC South with Chiefs ESC and got 16 kills to just six deaths, as well as three entry kills, to put Elevate in trouble again.

Surprise of the day: Wildcard Gaming

Wildcard Gaming have unquestionably been the worst team in APAC South since the region moved to the current format in 2021. Prior to Saturday's matches, they had only won 12 games in 39 APAC South matches played.

One of these 12 had been against Elevate, out of five clashes against them total, and it seemed highly unlikely that Elevate would lose to Wildcard a second time, especially with the return of Sapper. Nevertheless, the match was expected to be close, as all five prior matches had been,

But not only did Bouncinballz put on one of the best single-player performances in APAC South this stage, Wildcard kicked Elevate's teeth in in spectacular fashion that no one would have seen coming.

In the post-match interview, Matthew "Oj" Grech himself admitted that his team had the potential to deliver such performances, but would get crushed themselves just as spectacularly when they were off-key.

"We show how good we can be sometimes and how terrible we can be sometimes," he said. "And unfortunately the difference between that is, like, so big, and I think we've seen a lot more of the worse side."

Top moments of the day

Here's a quickfire rundown of other top moments in APAC South on Saturday.

Knights look like they are back

Knights have looked very shaky since the start of Stage 3, after signing Invictus Gaming star Matin "SpeakEasy" Yunos. Two stunning regulation-time losses started things off for them, immediately ruling them out of Major contention (albeit not mathematically).

But things have picked up for them since. They kicked off their stage by finally getting on board with an overtime win over Wildcard, before taking Tyde down in regulation time. This week, they pushed Gaimin Gladiators to maximum overtime and could have well taken the win -- no small feat against a team that looks like it will be heading to the Jönköping Major.

Things are about to get worse for Elevate

Elevate have already taken two regulation-time losses in Stage 3, but could be heading for two more. They play runaway league leaders Dire Wolves next, with the Taiwanese yet to lose a match since July, and end with a Gamin Gladiators that have so far only lost to Dire Wolves.

Given Elevate's form compared to their upcoming opponents, it is very likely they take two further regulation-time losses. That could spell disaster for them -- they would not only miss out on the Jönköping Major, but could also fail to directly qualify for the Six Invitational 2023.

It's between FURY and Gaimin Gladiators for the second Major spot

After the APAC South super-week, Dire Wolves remained in first place, but Gaimin Gladiators pipped FURY to second and lead the Thai team by one point.

FURY and Gaimin Gladiators both have two matches left in Stage 3, with one of them being Tyde. Tyde have not been able to secure a point so far this stage and should likely provide little challenge to both FURY and the Gladiators.

The key difference, then, will be the other match for both teams. FURY take on Wildcard, who just had the huge win over Elevate but have otherwise been consistently poor. Meanwhile, Gaimin Gladiators take Elevate on themselves.

With a mere point keep FURY behind Gaimin Gladiators and the head-to-head in the Indonesians' favour, FURY will need to hope for a regulation-time win over Wildcard and at least an overtime loss for Gaimin Gladiators against Elevate. The odds seem to be in the Gladiators' favour, but anything can happen in the unpredictable APAC South Division.