South American surprises and European arrogance in Singapore Major Group Stage

As the group stage of the Singapore Major has come to a close, let’s take a look at the biggest stories and look over our playoff candidates.

Over the past two days a grand total of twenty-eight best-of-two’s were played in the Singapore Major’s group stage. Twenty-eight series to determine what teams move onto the upper bracket, lower bracket or elimination. Furthermore it was our first impression of what the power rankings between different regions look like, a full year after regional isolation started.

South-American surprises

Every major has their own dark horses, unknown teams suddenly showing up out of nowhere beating powerhouse after powerhouse. This Major seems to be no different, as Thunder Predator has taken up the mantle of dark horse right away. Being the second team from South America, by many regarded as a backwater region with no good teams, the expectations for Thunder Predator were low.

Dropping only two games of the fourteen that they played however, they just might be a top contender to take the first place in the entire tournament. The team is showing off that through the power of incredibly aggressive gameplay every game can be won. South-America might have had an enormous growth spurt over the past year.

European arrogance

A region that was very much expected to show up during this major however, was Europe. Instead of dazzling the competition with perfect execution, they seem to be stumbling down towards the abyss of mediocrity. Team Nigma already failed spectacularly during the wild card, only managing to win a single game, and now that we have reached the group stage their cousins, Alliance and Team Liquid, don’t seem to be faring that much better.

While Team Liquid has had to fight tooth and nail, pulling out every cheese strategy that they have, they only just managed to get themselves into the lower bracket of the playoffs. Alliance’s fate is a lot more dire however. As a string of losses caused them to end up all the way down at the bottom of the bracket, below teams like Neon and Aster who are forced to play with stand-ins. Being all the way at the bottom means that they are now eliminated from the major as a whole. If you look out your window, you might even see the airplane taking them home right now.

Chinese discipline

Where the european teams couldn’t keep their focus, the chinese could. After getting themselves out of the Wild Cards on top of that bracket, Vici Gaming and PSG.LGD did it again in the group stages. Only being beaten out by the south-american dark horse of Thunder Predator, they managed to secure themselves a top three placement. A placement that will allow them to move on the upper bracket of the playoffs. Making use of some incredible drafts they always put themselves in the best possible position for every game they played.

Team Aster however had a bit more difficulty. Due to the unfortunate situation with borax and the “entertainment” he sought out before the major, Asters coach Cheng “Mad” Han was playing as stand-in instead. While Mad was performing very well on his phoenix on the first day, on the second day teams figured out that it was all he had to offer. By either banning it or drafting around it Mad became a bit more of a liability for his team. This caused Team Aster to be content with a place in the lower bracket of the playoffs.

Southeast-Asian Resilience

In the middle of the pack we can also see Quincy Crew and Neon Esports finding themselves a spot in the lower bracket of the major. While Quincy Crew had a really impressive performance on the first day of the major, many people questioned Neon’s ability to keep themselves away from the last spot in the bracket. However on the second day these roles seemingly reversed.

Quincy Crews promising start was petering out in a tie against alliance and losses versus the chinese teams. Neon however persevered and took some important games away from Team Liquid and Alliance. Blessing the Southeast-Asian team with a spot in the lower bracket instead of elimination. A curse has accompanied their blessing however, is their standin Rafael “Rapy” Sicat Palo, who has to leave due to having been in contact with somebody infected with covid-19. Instead they will have to play the playoffs with Yang “Deth” Wu Heng now. And only time will tell how Neon Esports and the rest of the teams will perform in the coming playoffs of the One Esports Singapore Major.

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