TLDR: LOUD 1ST ROUND BYE, VIKINGS OUT, TBK PLAYS LIBERTY FOR PLAYOFF SPOT, LOSER HAS A CHANCE TO QUALIFY IF THEY ONLY LOSE BY 2 ROUNDS A MAP. IF NOT GAMELANDERS IN
Week four has come and gone in a hyper competitive brazil group A. We have seen a team seemingly come back from the dead, and a former region giant fall flat on their face. This upcoming week will feature a game that, depending on the result, may come under investigation for match fixing. Lets see every team's path to the playoffs.
Already Qualified:
This team is the favorite to make an appearance in Masters: Iceland.
LOUD:
LOUD, after a dominant start to the group stage, finally got to their bye. Currently sitting at 3-0, LOUD had already qualified for the playoffs last week, and, due to tiebreakers, a first round bye. Next week, LOUD will take on the 0-3, and eliminated, Vikings. Since LOUD has already locked up a number one seed, there is a chance that they choose to save their strats in their next game. This being said, if LOUD loses to Vikings next week, there is probably no cause for concern for this brazilian superteam.
Self Sufficient:
If these teams win, they will qualify for the playoffs.
Last week, TBK were sitting at 1-1 with no team really knowing what to make of them, they had beaten then 0-2 Gamelanders before losing to 3-0 LOUD. This week's game against Vikings, gave TBK a very important win that has set themselves up nicely to qualify for the playoffs. TBK won against Vikings very easily, 13-7, 13-3. To qualify for the playoffs, TBK needs to either win against Liberty, or lose by less than four rounds total, like a 11-13, 11-13. Despite having the head to head win record over Gamelanders, when TBK beat them in week 2, a loss against Liberty would set up a three way tie between TBK, Liberty, and Gamelanders. The three way tiebreaker is round differential, and a two way tie in round differential would go back to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Going into last week, Liberty sat at 1-1 with a win against the 0-3 Vikings and a loss against the 3-0 LOUD. This record still left the true skill of Liberty in doubt, as all we knew about them is that they weren't the best in their group and they weren't the worst either. Last week, Liberty took on Gamelanders, which a win would qualify Liberty and TBK, and eliminate Gamelanders from the playoff contention. While the match ended in a 0-2 loss for Liberty, the game was very much deserving of a map three. Gamelanders won in a nailbiter; 15-13, 13-11. To qualify for the playoffs, all Liberty needs to do to win is beat TBK, who also desperately needs the win. Although, there is a way for both Liberty and TBK to qualify, all that would need to happen is for Liberty to win by two on each map, or win in map three after closely winning an earlier map and getting destroyed on the other map. If this scenario were to happen, it could be seen as a little too convenient, and there might be calls from Gamelanders for VALORANT to look into a possible match fixing scandal.
NEEDS HELP:
This team needs one result to fall in their favor to qualify.
After a miserable start to the group stages, where Gamelanders quickly fell to 0-2, Gamelanders found their footing in week three, picking up a win against fellow winless team Vikings. This week, Gamelanders needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive. They played liberty in the closest two map series of the entire group stage, barely edging out their rivals 15-13, 13-11. This win marks the last game of the group stage that gamelanders will play, as they have a bye in the final week. Sitting at 2-2, all Gamelanders need to do to qualify is for either TBK to win against Liberty, or for TBK to lose by more than 5 rounds.
ELIMINATED:
Roster changes Likely.
This was certainly not the group stage that Vikings were hoping for, sitting at 0-2 last week, Vikings still had a glimmer of hope to qualify if they could win their last two matches. Unfortunately for Vikings, they played a TBK team that was on a mission, and promptly got stomped on by them, losing 7-13, 3-13. That loss marked the end of Vikings playoff hopes. Next week, things don’t look like they will get any better for Vikings as they have to take on 3-0 LOUD. Good luck with that.
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