With the August 2020 Major being cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus epidemic, the top teams during Stage 1 in each APAC sub-region competed for a portion of the Six Major's prize pool and Six Invitational points over the last week. You can learn more about each of these tournaments in our preview articles below:
- APAC North Six August 2020 Major - Everything You Need to Know
- Lunarmetal, EnvyTaylor, and Devmarta on the APAC North Six August 2020 Major
- Oceania & South Asia Six August 2020 Majors - Everything You Need to Know
- Fluxx, Centus, and Devmarta on the Oceanic and South Asian Six August 2020 Majors
And here's a rundown of all the action in each of the three tournaments now they are completed:
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The APAC region's schedule. (Image: Ubisoft)
APAC North
The top six teams in APAC North (consisting of the top Japanese, Korean, and Southeas Asian teams) had been invited to compete in the North Division's mini-major competition, with Giants and Cloud9 being given preferential seeding due to their top-two finish in the regular season.
The APAC North bracket. (Image: Ubisoft)
Day one saw the two quarter-finals of FAV vs Xavier followed by GUTS Gaming vs Cyclops Athlete Gaming. This first game started off a lot more one-sided as many predicted as with the exception of a 1v2 by No2 on Echo, FAV had very little presence in the game. While they did manage to win a few rounds, five back-to-back wins from Xavier took the first map of Kafe, leading into Oregon which was their own pick.
This map started out similarly with FAV winning a 1v1 to get on the board before ending the half 2-4. While they managed to add to this with a few added rounds, a 1v1 by DCH, a triple kill by Nay..Pew, and an early Scatman ended the series in a definitive 2-0 scoreline.
The statistics for Xavier Esports vs FAV Gaming.
The next game was an all-Japanese matchup between GUTS and Cyclops which, as the third and sixth-seeded team, heavily favoured GUTS. GUTS' pick of Villa started off the Bo3 with Cyclops on the defence favoured side, which allowed CAG to gain a notable 5-1 lead, before swapping to the attack, with GUTS' lone win coming thanks to a 1v2 by JJ.
As sides switched GUTS came right back into it with five defensive wins of their own (including another 1v2 by Yura) to push into overtime. A double-kill and a plant by Anitun on Ash gave CAG an attack win, allowing them to take the map 8-6.
Next up was Cyclops' map of Coastline, where they won two 1vXs to take an initial 4-0 lead before GUTS stormed back to a 5-4 scoreline. At this point, Cyclops halted their comeback to end the map 7-4 as they took down the highest-seeded opponent 2-0.
Next up was the SEA matchup between Giants Gaming and Xavier Esports, which is likely one of the closest game we'll see during the mini-majors. Clubhouse began with Xavier taking a strong 4-2 lead, before the side swap allowed Giants to come back into it, aided by both a 1v1 and a 1v2 by HysteRiX in the space of four rounds. This comeback brought them all the way to overtime. There, the teams traded a round each, Xavier's newest player of sprOnigiri made the difference thanks to a triple kill on Jager to win the map 8-7.
A similar story transpired the following map of Oregon, as Xavier took another 4-2 lead (aided by a 1v2 by redsun). This was immediately followed up by another 1v1 and 1v2 by HysteRiX on rounds seven and nine to push them once again into overtime. This went all the way to round 15 where this time it was SpeakEasy, who secured the triple kill to win the map.
This put the game down to map three of Kafe, which was a split from the mould. After a split first half, 1vXs by Ysaera and Jrdn stopped the game from going into overtime, as it ended 7-5 giving the series to Giants Gaming.
Joining Giants in the grand final was to be the victor between Cloud9 and Cyclops Athlete Gaming. After the prior battle, this game was somewhat disappointing as with the exception of a few standout plays, CAG offered very little to counter C9's advanced gunplay and organisation. Map one opened up with a 1v3 by Anitun before C9 responded with four rounds running to gain the lead before finishing it off a few rounds into the second half thanks to a 1v2 by SweetBlack.
Map two had closer rounds and did see CY take a 2-0 initial lead but once C9 got going they couldn't be stopped cleaning up much of the rest of the map to take the series 7-3, 7-3.
And so, Cloud9 met the Giants in the grand final -- a matchup that the Giants had won both times during Stage 1. This best-of-five competition kicked off on Villa, with C9 on defence, which allowed then to take a remarkable initial lead as a 1v2 by Nova helped them to a 5-1 scoreline.
As sides switched, this was Giants opportunity to come back, which they started to do, as Ysaera secured an initial 1v3 on Jager to add to their count. Giants disconnecting put C9 on map point, however, which they secured three rounds later, after the quick deaths of the two Giants roamers of Jrdn and SpeakEasy.
Cloud9's in-game-leader of EnvyTaylor.
After a flawless opening round by C9 on Oregon, Giants responded with three round wins in a row, each with a different player securing a triple kill before finishing the half up 4-2. A 1v1 by SweetBlack and a team disconnect from Giants put Cloud9 joint with them once again at 4-4 before Giants largely completely fell apart achieving just four kills in the next three rounds as C9 went up 2-0 in maps
With just one more map needed to take the title, C9 took an early lead before a 1v1 victory by Lunarmetal pulled Giants back to an eventual 3-3 defensive half on Clubhouse. After taking their first defensive hold on the Church objective, C9 then lost Gym, CCTV, and then their return to the Church, to give Giants their first major lead in the whole series. The Singaporeans capitalised on it two rounds later to take the map and to push onto Kafe -- a map which Giants beat C9 on during Stage 1, 7-4.
This prior result made a comeback possibility pretty likely, however, hopes likely died quickly. After a 1v1 victory by SweetBlack over Lunarmetal on round one, C9 then secured two flawless defences in a row, which likely demoralised the Giants greatly. Two triple-kills from EnvyTaylor and SyAIL ended the half 6-0, before Harp3r ended the mini-major with a 1v1 trade kill onto HysteRiX to take the map, series, and title.
The National Day celebrations for the Singaporeans had been spoiled.
The statistics for the grand-final.
And so, with both the third and fifth place, best-of-one decider matches being played off-stream (CAG 7-5 Xavier, GUTS 8-7 FAV), the mini-Major ended with the following standings:
- 1st -- Cloud9: EnvyTaylor, SweetBlack, SyAIL, Nova, Harp3rXD, RechoTZ (head coach), and OCN (assistant coach)
- 2nd -- Giants Gaming: Lunarmetal, Ysaera, HysteRiX, SpeakEasy, jrdn, Histoire (substitute), and GiG (coach)
- 3rd -- CYCLOPS athlete gaming: Ayagator, Anitun, SuzuC, BlackRay, gatorada, and XQQ (coach)
- 4th -- Xavier Esports: DCH, redsun00, scatman, Nay..Pew, sprOnigiri, WARBARK (substitute) and Dr.Bestsiaer (coach)
- 5th -- GUTS Gaming: CrazyPapiyoN, JJ, Lily, Li9ht, Yura, and Cloud (coach)
- 6th -- FAV Gaming: ShiN, Afro, Taipon, ChloroForM, No2, and OdeNMiso (coach)
Oceania
Following the Six Masters Oceanic nationals tournament, the top three teams who usually would have travelled to the APAC South LAN event alongside the South Asia victor instead were invited to the regional mini-major to compete for the sub-regional title.
The brackets for the tournament. (Image: Ubisoft)
With Pittsburgh only just qualifying for the Six Masters playoffs and then puling off a surprise upset against SiNister to make it into the mini-Major, they were the clear underdogs in this matchup against Ōkami. Despite this, the opening map saw a number of very one-sided rounds go back and forth between the teams, with the Knights losing their best chance at taking the lead as ItBeStyle killed Dino in a 1v1 on round four.
The close first half was quickly changed, as Ōkami moved to attack and won two rounds running thanks to standout plays by Juicy and ItBeStyle. The Knights responded with four of their own including, remarkably, two back-to-back 1v2 victories by Hayward, both of which were on time, to give Knights the map 7-5.
With Knights ahead, proceedings moved on to Ōkami's pick of Kafe, in which they struggled to get going on defence. The two rounds they won were thanks to five kills by ItBeStyle on Jager, a theme that continued into the second half as he added to that with another triple kill on round seven while playing Ash.
Knights won two more rounds to push to match point before Ōkami pulled off a comeback of their own to push into overtime, before five more kills by Hayward ended the map 8-6 to take the series 2-0 and push into the grand-final.
And so, Knights was the team to face Wildcard in the best-of-five grand-final. The very first round started with a bang, as Dino took the lead for the Knights by winning a 1v1 over Thumbnail. This was only added to three rounds later thanks to a 1v2 by Jsh, before they finally got into the swing of the map to end the first half up 4-2. Despite the earlier strength, as they swapped to attack, Wildcard had no answer to Knights as they quickly pushed to map point, which was won due to yet another 1v1 victory by Jsh against Thumbnail.
After that very impressive performance on Oregon, things moved onto Consulate, which started with yet another 1v2 by Juicy to give Knights the lead. This was particularly important, as it led to them drawing the first half, with the teams trading rounds in the second half hinting at overtime. A flawless CEO attack from Wildcard on round 11 broke the pattern, though, as they took a 7-5 victory.
Knights once again won round one of Coastline, but Wildcard did not let slip any further rounds as they swept the rest of their defensive half, including a post-plant 1v1 victory in round six. This was responded to by a 1v3 by Hayward the following round, but while the Knights did look to be on a comeback, they couldn't overcome their weak offensive half as they lost the map 7-4.
And so, Wildcard only needed to win Clubhouse, their own map pick, to be crowned the sub-regional champions. While the Knights were able to get the defuser planted in four out of six rounds, they were unable to hold it two of these times, leading to a 2-4 first half for them. Nevertheless, two of Wildcard's most experienced players of Ethan and EmoRin ended the map on their attacks, taking the final two rounds with just two fatalities from WC to win 3-1 and secure the title.
The grand-final statistics.
And so we got the following standings:
- 1st -- Wildcard Gaming: Ethan, Pat, Gio, Diesel, EmoRin, syliX (coach) and Fluxx (coach)
- 2nd -- Pittsburgh Knights: Dino, Stryder, Hayward, Juicy, Jsh, and Pikniq (coach)
- 3rd -- Ōkami: JackDaddy, Cutie, Mangoz, ItBeStyle, JKR, and Centus (coach)
South Asia
The South Asian sub-region saw its very first streamed games on the Rainbow6 channel as the teams fought for the mini-major title and accompanying SI points and prize money. Despite a number of close games during the Stage 1 games, the pecking order in these matchups was very clear, as every game went in a very one-sided scoreline.
The sub-regional giants of Union and the Stage 1 victors of MercenarieZ took their initial semi-final matchups without issue, as none of the games went even to overtime, with the two dropping a combined total of nine rounds across their four maps. This led to a number of casters and viewers remarking on the players' potentials following these games, considering prior to these games the region's competitive scene consisted largely of just Go4-like tournaments.
This set up a best-of-five map grand-final rematch between Union and MRCZ. When they had met in the Stage 1 Finals, MRCZ had come in with a map advantage but had lost the opening two maps. The team had only won thanks to a two map comeback in a nailbiting contest that went all the way, not unlike the Invitational grand final on a smaller scale.
This time, however, while they were playing with a rotating roster, MercanarieZ looked like a completely different team, unable to take their advantages in any map. This is likely due to them losing the map bans, as the first three maps were all either maps that they had not played or Union had won in their first meetup, giving them a clear advantage.
Three 7-5 scorelines transpired, with the three 1vXs on map two alone making the difference between a clean 3-0 scoreline and what likely would have been a much closer game, considering maps four and five had both been won by MRCZ in their first meeting.
Offstream, MonkaS then beat KIRA in another clear 2-0 scoreline to determine the following standings:
- 1st -- Union Gaming: Beat, EX7, Jittery, Poseidon and Sparko
- 2nd -- MercenarieZ: DOC7ER, Hasib, Mii7, NINJAFREAK, Taha, M4KER and FATAR
- 3rd -- MonkaS: Cruzi, Firefly, Ishan, Lusty_Boi, Xjora, and QB-
- 4th -- KIRA E-Sports: AviM, DAFT, R4ttl3r, amarhbk, Atharv and Khajiit
Prizes and SI Points
With these results, the Six Invitational points have been distributed as follows:
- 510 Points -- Cloud9
- 390 Points -- Giants Gaming
- 330 Points -- Wildcard Gaming
- 275 Points -- Union Gaming
- 225 Points -- CYCLOPS athlete gaming
- 180 Points -- Xavier Esports
- 140 Points -- GUTS Gaming
- 115 Points -- FAV Gaming
This almost guarantees Giants Gaming and Cloud9 spots at the 2021 Six Invitational, which would make both of these teams just the second and third APAC team ever to have multiple SI appearances alongside Fnatic.
Some of the team banners at the 2020 Six Invitational
In terms of prize money,, meanwhile, this is how much each team in the region went home with across both the mini-major and Stage 1:
- $37,800 -- Giants Gaming
- $36,100 -- Cloud9
- $30,000 -- Wildcard Gaming
- $17,400 -- Xavier Esports
- $17,000 -- Pittsburgh Knights and Ōkami
- $16,300 -- CYCLOPS athlete gaming
- $11,500 -- Union Gaming
- $8,750 -- GUTS Gaming
- $7,750 -- MercenarieZ
- $6,000 -- Team SiNister
- $5,600 -- FAV gaming
- $5,250 -- MonkaS
- $4,500 -- KIRA E-Sports
- $4,000 -- LFO
- $3,150 -- Fnatic
- $3,000 -- Team Ferox
- $2,800 -- QConfirm
- $2,450 -- Talon Esports
- $2,100 -- Electrify Esports
- $2,000 -- Team Super, Deimos Force and Elevate
- $1,750 -- Nora-Rengo
- $1,400 -- SCARZ
- $1,000 -- Sangfroid Esports, Vector Sports and Kanga Esports
Next week, the Six August 2020 Major will continue with the North American regional games followed by the European games the week after. Be sure to catch all the news, stats and video coverage of the games here at SiegeGG.