WePlay AniMajor Day 6: Nigma make upper bracket while Beastcoast, Liquid go home
The Group Stage of the WePlay AniMajor has concluded, with an ascendant Team Nigma securing an upper bracket berth in the Playoffs while Beastcoast and Team Liquid have been eliminated.
After PSG.LGD bagged the first of two slots in the upper bracket in day three of the Group Stage, the second slot was left up for grabs largely between Nigma and Vici Gaming (VG).
VG started the final day of the Group Stage by holding PSG.LGD to a draw in order to come close to forcing a tiebreaker with Nigma for an upper bracket berth.
However, Nigma dashed VG's hopes of making the upper bracket when they easily swept through Beastcoast in the third match of the day. Nigma's star midlaner Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi starred in the winning play of game one, where he snatched the all-important Aegis of the Immortal away from Beastcoast then led his team in mopping up what remained of the opposition.
Nigma's game one victory locked up their spot in the upper bracket and guaranteed Beastcoast's elimination, with the former's subsequent win in game two all but a formality.
After surviving a grueling Wildcard Stage, Nigma finish the Group Stage with an 8-4 record and will be entering the upper bracket of the Playoffs with a lot of momentum.
Meanwhile, Team Spirit and Team Liquid managed to take draws with TNC Predator and Evil Geniuses, respectively, to force a tiebreaker to determine which team will keep their tournament hopes alive and which will be joining Beastcoast in taking an early exit.
In the last do-or-die game of the Group Stage, Spirit survived a dominant early game from their opponents to defeat Liquid after an intense 44 minutes and advance to the Playoffs.
Here is how all the matches for the final day of the Group Stage went down:
PSG.LGD 1-1 Vici Gaming
TNC Predator 1-1 Team Spirit
Team Nigma 2-0 Beastcoast
Evil Geniuses 1-1 Team Liquid
Team Spirit 1-0 Team Liquid (tiebreaker)
The WePlay AniMajor will be taking a one-day break on Tuesday (8 June) before the Playoffs kick off on Wednesday (9 June).
The Playoffs will follow a double-elimination format with all matches being a best-of-three except for the grand finals, which will be a full best-of-five series.
PSG.LGD and Nigma will be joining Alliance, Team Aster, T1, Virtus.pro, Quincy Crew, and NoPing Esports in starting in the upper bracket. The losers of the opening round of the upper bracket will then drop down to the first round of the lower bracket, where VG, EG, TNC Predator, and Spirit await.
Here is the bracket for the WePlay AniMajor Playoffs:
The WePlay AniMajor will run until 13 June as the remaining teams battle for their cut of the US$500,000 prize pool and 2,700 DPC point pool. For everything you need to know about the WePlay AniMajor, check here.
The WePlay AniMajor also serves as the final chance for teams to earn DPC points in order to secure a direct invite to The International 10 (TI10), which will be held in Stockholm, Sweden this August and features massive US$40 million prize pool.
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