Team Liquid lead the scoreboards, G2 Esports elimination comes as major upset.
After seven weeks and more than 120 games of Hearthstone, the group stage of the ESL Trinity Series has come to an end. Four teams will go home, while the remainder will pack their luggage for Burbank, California where the playoffs of this $150,000 league will be played March 16-18.
After a disastrous series of three consecutive losses, tournament favorites G2 Esports are officially out of the running. The ATLC champions started strong in the first three weeks but hit a dry spell after their loss to Team Liquid in week five. G2 nevertheless came into week seven with the best tie-breaker score and needed to only prevail over Tempo Storm with any result to qualify but the one-two punch of Freeze Mage plus Pirate Warrior of TS proved enough to spell elimination for the Europeans.
In an ironic turn of events, Tempo Storm themselves couldn’t qualify by the virtue of having fewer games won compared to a team which only advancced due to Tempo Storm’s victory over G2: compLexity. The roster headlined by SeatStory Cup champion Jan “SuperJJ” Janssen was on the verge of elimination after its loss to Virtus.pro on Wednesday, but G2’s ousting was exactly the bump it needed to survive. Having won four of their last five games and being on a three-match win-streak, the bears of Virtus.pro will also accompany Liquid and compLexity to the playoffs.
Luminosity Gaming wraps ups the quartet on top of the rankings. The American super team is advancing as the second highest seed, much aided by their one-sided victories over Tempo Storm in week two and Cloud9 in week seven.
If standard seeding applies for the playoffs, it means that Team Liquid will place compLexity in the finals opener, while Luminosity takes on Virtus.pro in the second match. A double elimination bracket will decide which team will run away with the $75,000 first place check.
Final standings:
1. Team Liquid (5-2, 37)
2. Luminosity Gaming (4-3, 37)
3. Virtus.pro (4-3, 37)
4. compLexity (4-3, 33)
5. Tempo Storm (4-3, 30)
6. G2 Esports (3-4, 36)
7. Cloud9 (2-5, 27)
8. Alliance (2-5, 23)
