ENVY's Season Is Over. G2 and EG Round Out the Bracket.
G2 beat ENVY 2-1 and Evil Geniuses beat KRÜ 2-1 in Sunday's play-ins, closing out the VCT Americas Stage 2 playoff field and ending ENVY's Champions hopes.
ENVY's year is done. G2 beat them 2-1 in Sunday's play-ins, and Evil Geniuses closed out KRÜ 2-1 in the other lower bracket match, which means the full eight-team Stage 2 playoff field is finally set: NRG, LEVIATÁN, 100 Thieves, LOUD, FURIA, MIBR, G2, and EG. No Shanghai for anyone else.
I Called This Weeks Ago
Back in August I watched Demon1 drop a 195 ACS game against NRG and lose anyway, and I wrote that ENVY's problem was never a talent gap, it was whatever happens between the other four players on a given night. BABYBAY and leaf just proved the point from the other side of the server. G2 took maps one and three off ENVY behind strong games from both, and ENVY's stars couldn't cover for the same gap that sank them all stage. You can only get bailed out by one guy's stat line so many times before the record catches up. It caught up.
EG's Win Was the Cleaner Story
KRÜ took Lotus 13-9 and looked like they'd steal the series, then EG closed the door with a 13-9 Sunset and a 13-3 Summit that wasn't close. That third map is the kind of scoreline that ends a team's season and doesn't leave room to argue about it.
Where I Land
Playoffs open Thursday with LOUD-FURIA and LEVIATÁN-MIBR, NRG and 100 Thieves follow Friday, and G2 and EG get thrown straight into the lower bracket Saturday. Rough draw for the two teams that just fought hardest to get here. Fitting, honestly.