The regular season of ESEA Premier for Europe and North America has come to an end and the playoffs brackets are now set.
Eight teams from each region have reached the playoffs and will now fight for the lion's share of $50,000 and one spot in ESL Pro League Season 16 Conference. 18 teams were divided into two groups for each event, with the top four-placed teams moving up to the playoffs bracket.
The bottom-placed team from each group was immediately relegated to ESEA Advanced Season 40 while the 6-8th placed teams will fight in Relegation against the best teams from Advanced Season 39 later this December.
NickelBack led Entropiq to the top of Group A
Entropiq came into the event as the second highest-ranked team, topping Group A with six wins alongside GamerLegion and Finest. SINNERS rounded up the four teams going into the next stage, leaving behind DBL PONEY and the Polish representatives of AGO, Wisla Krakow and Anonymo. The new-look FORZE only managed to steal one win on their way to securing relegation to ESEA Advanced S40.
Group B meanwhile gave us a few more surprises. The Russians of 1WIN were ranked #32 on the eve of the event but topped the group with only two losses to their name. Joining them were Sprout, Copenhagen Flames and BLINK. Most shocking was Movistar Riders's failure to secure a playoffs berth after being ranked the second-highest in their group.
Eternal Fire had previously taken the spot of Sangal but did not compete after being unable to field an eligible roster for their matches.
Group A TEAM M P Entropiq 8 18 GamerLegion 8 18 Finest 8 18 SINNERS 8 15 DBL PONEY 8 12 Wisla Krakow 8 9 AGO 8 9 Anonymo 8 6 FORZE 8 3 Group B TEAM M P 1WIN 8 18 Sprout 8 18 Copenhagen Flames 8 15 BLINK 8 15 Movistar Riders 8 15 Nemiga 8 12 SAW 8 9 LDLC 8 6 Eternal Fire 8 0
The playoffs of ESEA Premier season 39 will be played using a BO3, double-elimination bracket:
Entropiq vs BLINK Finest vs Sprout GamerLegion vs Copenhagen Flames SINNERS vs 1WIN
As the highest-ranked teams at the event Copenhagen Flames, Entropiq, and SINNERS are favorites to go deep into the bracket but nothing is set in stone. 1WIN and Finest have already proved their upset potential and thus cannot be counted out of the race.
PKL's painN topped North America's Group A
The North American branch saw two squads rise above the rest as paiN and Extra Salt went undefeated through the group stages, topping their respective groups with a flawless record.
The Brazilians from Group A were joined in the playoffs by Triumph, Bad News Bears, and ChocoCheck as all three North American teams finished the group stage with six wins each.
Group B gave us a clearer hierarchy. TeamOne finished in second place, only counting a loss to Extra Salt while Party Astronauts only suffered defeats against the top placed teams, finishing in third place well ahead of RBG.
Group A TEAM M P paiN 8 24 Triumph 8 18 ChocoCheck 8 18 Bad News Bears 8 18 Eros 8 9 ONET4P 8 9 Northern Forces 8 9 Big Chillin 8 3 Limitless 8 0 Group B TEAM M P Extra Salt 8 24 TeamOne 8 21 Party Astronauts 8 18 RBG 8 12 ATK 8 9 voLante 8 9 Strife 8 9 DETONATE 8 6 the jungle 8 0
In a similar fashion to Europe, The North American playoffs will utilize BO3 games across a double-elimination bracket.
paiN vs RBG ChocoCheck vs TeamOne Triumph vs Party Astronauts Bad News Bears vs Extra Salt
As the two most dominant squads across the group stages and the highest-ranked teams at the start of the event, one can expect paiN and Extra Salt to fight for the top spot ahead of the rest of the field.