In an esport full of arcane rules and minuscule differences between winning and losing, it only makes sense to give match of the year honors to the most tightly contested match.
Team oNe needed a miracle. They needed to not just beat CAG in the final match of the group stage, they needed to stomp them by a precise score of 7-2 in order to force a tiebreaker map.
Team oNe raced out to a 3-0 lead, after which CAG won two of the three rounds they needed to advance. The Brazilians would have to be perfect from this point onwards to advance.
Four Team oNe rounds in a row gave them the map — forcing a tiebreaker map oNe also won, 7-4. This tiebreaker game was the first-ever such occurrence in major competition in Siege, all the many previous layers of tiebreak rules exhausted, the only remaining option was to settle it in the server.
Team oNe would not lose another game at the Major. Their improbable win sparked a cinderella run that would see them go on to win the Six Mexico Major.
It’s a group stage match, sure, but a combination of stakes, scenario, and gameplay made Team oNe and CAG’s final group stage bout at the Mexico Major truly memorable. For all of these reasons, it is our Match of the Year.
To view the full awards and schedule, check out our Year 6 Awards Hub. If you want to join the discussion, check out our new SiegeGG forums!