Here’s how Day 8 of the EUL ended:
- Natus Vincere 7 - 4 Outsiders
- Team Secret 8 - 7 Rogue
- MNM Gaming 7 - 4 Heroic
- Team BDS 8 - 7 G2 Esports
- Wolves Esports 7 - 1 TT9 Esports
Play of the day: Tyrant ace
This week saw two quadruple kills from Amision and Savage and an ace from Tyrant on Nokk.
The MNM Gaming player’s ace was in the opening round against Heroic and preceded the opening kill in round two, which meant he got six kills in a row with no interruptions. He also netted 10 kills across the first four rounds alone, before he was finally killed at the start of round five.
Player of the day: P4
During Wolves’ 7-1 win over TT9, P4 managed 14 kills to three deaths while also getting one of Wolves’ two plants and winning a 1v1 clutch. This 2.23 SiegeGG Rating was undeniably the performance of the day.
Surprise of the day: Team Secret win over Rogue
While G2 coming within a point of taking down BDS was quite a shock, Secret actually pulling off the win against Rogue was even more so.
The result saw the reigning Major champions lose to a roster with just four points in seven games prior to this matches. The 8-7 result ended with an ASTRO triple kill, as he managed 15 kills on Ash to Spoit’s 14.
Top moments of the day
Here's a quickfire rundown of other top moments in the EUL yesterday.
Wolves and BDS qualify for the Major
Both French teams have locked in a place at the Jönköping Major, becoming Europe’s first teams to do so.
Team BDS notably only have a single loss to their name against Rogue this stage, while Wolves lost to BDS and G2.
With XSET, Astralis, FURIA Esports, Elevate, and G2 Esports all missing out on the Major, this makes Wolves the first team to reach all three Six Majors in 2022. The Brazilians of w7m esports could join them with this accolade should they win tonight’s game against Black Dragons in the Copa Elite Six, or the lower-bracket game if they lose to Black Dragons.
BDS will see themselves as the Major favourites, as Rogue’s victory puts Europe at the forefront of global Siege and the new Shaiiko-LikEfac duo seems confident enough to take on anyone.
The final two Major teams
Next week, Rogue and MNM can both qualify for the Major simply by beating Heroic and BDS, respectively.
This latter result will be a tall task, but can give NAVI and Heroic a chance to nab spots of their own.
Should MNM lose the game, then NAVI and Heroic can catch up to them with wins over Wolves and Rogue, respectively. Once again, these are difficult matchups and MNM are more likely to win points versus Wolves than Heroic are against BDS.
This means Heroic have the best chance of pulling off the last-second upset by beating Rogue. A win for them, even in overtime, has a good chance of being enough, assuming BDS beat MNM.
MNM making it to their third Major event of the year would be a massive win for the MNM organization in their first foray into tier-one Siege.
G2’s comeback almost succeeds, as they reach SI 2023
In the space of two rounds, G2 qualified for the 2023 Six Invitational and missed out on the Jönköping Major as they lost 7-8 to Team BDS.
This result was almost an absolute embarrassment for G2 for a second week running, as they went down 0-5 while attacking on Skyscraper. With a second 0-7 in the space of a week on everybody's minds, G2 silenced their detractors by winning six rounds in a row.
BDS finally stopped the bleeding at the very last second to reach overtime, where Shaiiko secured six kills in three rounds and LikEfac won the game with a double kill on round 15 while playing as Blackbeard.
Wolves close in on the first back-to-back first-place finishes
No team has ever won subsequent European League stages. The victors have been Rogue, Team BDS, NAVI, Team Empire, Team BDS, Heroic, and Wolves Esports. Wolves currently lead Stage 3 with one game to go, meaning they could make it two in a row.
Should this happen, this will likely relegate BDS to second place. This will be the fourth time they’ve finished in second place, compared to their two first-placed finishes across eight stages. Their only time missing out on the top two was Stage 2 2021 and Stage 2 2022.
TT9 on for the first clean sweep in EUL history
Previously, the worst performance in the history of the European League saw Rogue end Stage 2 in 2021 with three points.
Three is currently the best-case scenario for TT9 as they currently have a 0-0-0-8 record with a single game remaining versus ninth-placed Team Secret.
In Europe’s seven-year competitive history, the worst team performance came from GiFu eSports in Season 10 of the Pro League, where the Finns only managed two points across 14 games. This roster included SlebbeN, who is now a part of the Team Secret that will decide TT9’s fate next week.
The French unKnights also earned a mere two points in Season 3 of the Pro League, but this was across seven games rather than nine. The BO2 format also meant that uK won two maps to earn the two points.
Globally, the worst result in NA history saw beastcoast end Stage 2 in 2021 with three points, while FURIA also had three points after Stage 1 in the 2020 BR6 League. The only teams to legitimately hit zero points before have been in APAC, with FURY Stage 1 this year being the most recent example. Tyde could also achieve this on Thursday, as they have a 0-0-0-5 record.
Standings: Outsiders and G2 officially out of contention
EUL will end next Monday, when all 16 Six Major teams will be known.
Should the EUL Finals go ahead, Wolves, Heroic, and BDS have already locked in a top-four finish, leaving the final spot to be decided between Rogue and MNM. Rogue lead MNM by one point, meaning this is also still to play for.
