If there’s one thing we learned from the new format, it’s to expect the unexpected.
The M6 Swiss stage has just concluded and it’s safe to say that the M-series world championships has never had a first stage as explosive as this. From upsets to heroics, the battle to find the eight best MLBB teams in the world was fierce. No team came out unscathed and each had to fight for their right to proceed.
It started on the biggest upset of day one of the M6 Swiss stage. Malaysia’s hometown heroes, the Selangor Red Giants, were defeated by Turkey’s S2G Esports. On the whole, it was a bad day for Malaysia as their second team, Team Vamos, lost to Saudi Arabia’s Twisted Minds as well.
Following the day of upsets, North America’s BloodThirsyKings defeated Turkey’s ULFHEDNAR. The Philippines’ Aurora Gaming would suffer a loss to Myanmar’s Falcon Esports as well.
Some people were saying that the best-of-one format caused too much volatility in the results but things didn’t look any better for Malaysia once they were playing best-of-threes. SRG and Vamos continued to slide down in the standings, falling dangerously close to elimination at a 1-2 record.
Aurora, however, were unable to recover in time and were eliminated with a 1-3 record in the fourth round. BloodThirstyKings and Twisted Minds were also unable to maintain their momentum and were eliminated in the fifth round at 2-3.
Do or Die
There were no more excuses left for Malaysia’s teams as the M6 Swiss stage was drawing to a close.
SRG and Vamos both had the opportunity to make it to the playoffs but they would need to lock in and play better MLBB than what they’ve shown so far. Vamos secured their spot after they vanquished the BloodThirstyKings, so it was all on the Malaysian champions to earn theirs.
Facing them was Cambodia’s CFU Gaming who impressed everyone when they took down Vamos and Singapore’s NIP Flash early on. It was a match that came down to the wire after both teams secured one victory over the other. SRG even almost scored a perfect game two against CFU and game three was looking to go the same way as well.
SRG’s lead quickly evaporated however when CFU rallied around the mid-game. They pushed SRG to an almost checkmate situation but Filipino Gold Laner John “Innocent” Banal had other ideas. As the Giants looked like they were at their lowest, he made the call to jump into the weakened CFU team to make a play that will live on in M-series history.
Expected but Unexpected
With the M6 Swiss stage concluded, SRG makes it to the playoffs, which in a roundabout way was what many people expected in the first place. In fact, the playoffs teams are fairly within people’s expectations but their journey to get there was anything but simple.
Joining SRG are Vamos, NIP Flash, and Falcon Esports. From Indonesia are RRQ Hoshi and Team Liquid ID, with the sole Filipino representative being Fnatic ONIC PH. Rounding them out is the CIS’s Team Spirit, proving once again that you shouldn’t underestimate this dark horse region.
Aside from Fnatic ONIC and RRQ making it out with a 3-0, every other team had to really earn their playoffs spot. Team Liquid were in a similar situation as SRG, facing elimination despite being the Indonesian champions. NIP Flash also had a shaky start but were able to bring it together in the end.
Will things now go as expected or will there be more surprises in store? We’ll find out once the M6 playoffs start on December 7.
Banner photo from Mobile Legends Esports.