Definitely not. Best case scenario imo they let tier 2 teams compete for a champions slot via LCQ like unrepresented regions get now. That's just speculation btw, and I don't think there will be any way for non-franchised teams to get in.

1. USA
2. Russia
3. Brazil
4. South Korea
5. Singapore

Honorable Mentions : Japan, Turkey, United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, Thailand

Hoping for FPX and M3C, probably gonna be Fnatic and Guild though

I got Andbox and BBG mixed up.

read #8

Oh yeah, my bad.

Pretty sure NYFU is their main team, the academy team never rebranded though.

The worst performance in Groups goes to Tenz with this last game vs. C9.
102 ACS in the series
58 ACS in the first game.

Before this it was Shaz in series 1 vs. LG with 127 ACS. Rawkus had the worst game performance with an 85 ACS against Faze on Fracture.

Depends on who they play, but they look 10x better than they did last stage. (No troll phoenix picks)

Rank - ACS - K/D/A (+/-)

1. 209.2 - Tenz - 158/168/33 (-10)
2. 192.3 - Kanpeki - 154/190/108 (-36)
3. 192.1 - Dapr - 157/177/55 (-20)
4. 189.8 - Sick - 84/84/29 (0)
5. 170.9 - Shazham - 141/185/55 (-44)
6. 154.5 - Dani - 20/34/10 (-14)
7. 141.7 - Rawkus - 62/99/44 (-37)

If they lose FaZe gets in over sen regardless

Sen was 10x better in double duelist meta. Rn with this meta, they are a t2 team

It's not any one player's fault. It's all of them. Their team play has been beyond atrocious. I guess you could blame shaz the most since he's igl, but overall they all deserve blame.

Overrated would be if he didn't do that. Ever since zombs was dropped, he has been the next "sen has to drop" player. Sen would be so much worse without him.

Going back to Champs he's had so many rounds where he willed Sen to winning them.

Going back to champions, dapr has helped cover up so many of sen's issues.

Dapr has gotten so much hate, but he's honestly so underrated.

If viewers was everything sentinels would be going to copenhagen

I think this is the reason NA is so much more balanced than EU rn (Balanced doesn't mean better before you guys flame me).

Who from Brazil is gonna knock Loud down here?

Lost the confidence they had in stage 1. Letting the pressure getting to them as a young team. Their executes and retakes are significantly worse than they were in stage 1 as well. They also aren't boot camping like they were in stage 1.

MiBr wins 2-1.

Might be the reverse actually. Group A gonna finish with a 3 way tie for 2nd regardless of who wins.

If Ghost wins and Optic loses this weekend, that's a first round banger of a matchup

Yeah, but almost no way Sen does a roster swap and LG isn't gonna want to just have a couple players replace them.

That Ghost pick not looking that far off. LG too, but not sure how losing their org is gonna hurt them.

Kru has one bad Masters (They lost to Optic and Liquid as well), and everyone shitting on LATAM.

Lumi already has the spot on lock. If they dropped out of LCQ then Sen is guaranteed in. However, I think Lumi plays in LCQ as an independent team.

Let me put it in terms of math.

Stage 1 Last Place got 10 points
Stage 1 8th Place got 30 points

Rise = 10
Sen = 30

Stage 2 Last place gets 15 points, 5th in groups get 20.
Stage 2 8th place (playoffs made) gets 35 points.

Faze = 10 + 35 (min) = 45 (min)
Sen = 30 + 15 (or 20) = 45 (or 50)

Faze wins tiebreaker over Sen, so C9 loss means Faze is ahead of Sen.

He forgot that Faze gets Rises points lol

Wrong

A first round Faze loss with a C9 loss ties them at 45. Most recent points get the nod so Faze gets in. Only way Sen gets in if they lose to C9 is if Ghost loses first round (Which is 2 straight losses btw.)

C9 have nothing to lose in the game, so Sen better be drilled and ready to win

It's the fact that Guard didn't have to play groups that really is making this bad. We just need one team to make top 8 that isn't optic though and the guard may get bumped to LCQ.
This will also favor G2 in EMEA.

In a perfect world 100T and Ghost join Optic in Champs. I like both of them a lot

The C9 vs. Sen game is the biggest last place game ever played lol

Depends if Sentinels beats C9, then one of those teams going out first round gets them in. Their game against C9 is basically a must win though

The guard still are in a good spot because of stage 1. Best case scenario for them, Optic makes Copenhagen, and the second NA team fails to perform better than The Guard. Worst case scenario Optic fails to make Copenhagen and both NA teams get more points than the Guard. They would then be the second seeded team in LCQ.

With NRG beating the guard, sentinels is now on the bubble in points for LCQ. Down below shows the NA points standings.
For Sentinels to make it to LCQ, Ghost must either lose first round or Sentinels beat C9 and Ghost lose in round 2.

Assuming LCQ is the same as last year, the top 8 teams in points outside of those qualified for Champions will make it in.
Updated as Stage 2 Points are higher than Stage 1

Place. Team (Minimum Points after Stage 2, Current Points, Max points if out of Playoffs)

1. Optic Gaming (785, 750, x)
2. The Guard (220, 200, 220)
   ------Champions Cutoff----
3. XSET (80, 45, x)
4. Luminosity (70, 35, x)
5. Cloud9 (65, 50, 70)
6. 100 Thieves (50, 15, x)
7. NRG (50, 15, x)
8. Evil Geniuses (45, 10, x)
9. Faze (45, 10, x)
10. Sentinels (45, 30, 50)
    ----Last Chance Qualifier Cut-off----
11. Ghost Gaming (35, 35, x)
12. Version1 (35, 35, 35)
13. Pittsburg Knights (30, 30, 30)
14. TSM (15, 0, 20)

I'd lean Fnatic, but acting like optic wouldn't be in this game, or couldn't even win it, is disingenuous.

There are a lot of good teams in NA. Pick any of the ones making playoffs, and you probably will have a chance for them to make a run.
EMEA is slightly more top heavy, but Fnatic, FPX, Acend, and Guild are teams to cheer for. M3C is a question mark but until they are eliminated I won't say they can't win it all. TL is fun to watch, but they never show up at the biggest moments.
LATAM is Kru's region, but if you want to go against the grain, both Leviatan and E-Xolos have given kru issues in the past.
Brazil is Loud territory. Mibr and NIP are good sleeper picks, but let's be honest, they play second fiddle to LOUD.
Korea is DRX. Don't even bother looking at another team.
Japan should be controlled by ZETA, but both Crazy Raccoon and Northception are teams you can root for.
APAC is interesting, but I doubt anyone dethrones PRX. Xerxia also is a good team. There are a couple others, but I'm not super well versed on APAC's pecking order.

Tenz

Shaz just needs to move away from igl. His individual ability is still pretty strong, but it's obvious being the igl has affected his play a ton.

C9*

You're not wrong.

This Fnatic lineup has only played multiple times on 2 maps. (Icebox 3-0, Ascent 1-1)
The rest is all 1-0s. We won't really know how deep FNC is until playoffs I think. They don't seem uncomfortable on any map though, which is very good.

Split : FNC
Bind : Optic
Ascent : Slight lean Optic.
Icebox : FNC
Breeze : FNC
Fracture : Optic (Easily their best map in M1)
Haven : slight lean FNC

Don't even hate EMEA teams. Their fans are insufferable though.

Yeah, fnatic looking good. Would be shocked in they don't get top 3. Of course they have to show up in playoffs first, so we'll see.

Emea had a superiority complex to the point if they didn't win, it's obviously not their fault.

Typical delusional EU fan.