What many considered to be unlikely happened today; RoX.KiS beat both Natus Vincere and Cloud9, thus surpassing Alliance in the StarLadder rankings and possibly preventing the Swedes from participating at the playoffs. Read about the possible outcomes below.
StarLadder seasons have been intense towards the end plenty of times in the past and it would seem the tradition is still alive. Alliance played versus Relax about halfway through the season and lost the game, to the surprise of the viewers. It was speculated whether this loss was something that would come back to haunt them in the end of the season. They won the following games but lost their final game of the season to Team Empire, whom now tops the group.
Meanwhile, RoX.KiS blazed through the group, beating teams left and right, such as Sigma, Fnatic and Virtus.pro. Before today they were standing at three losses, against Alliance's four losses, which was a good record but in order to remain at three losses they had to win their three last matches - against Na`Vi, Cloud9 and Empire. The Russian squad seemed determined in reaching the playoffs in Kiev as they managed to pull the upset against both Natus Vincere and Cloud9 and even made it seem easy. By doing so they are putting Alliance in an awkward situation where they can do nothing but to bite their nails and hope for an outcome that ensures their survival.
| Team | Losses | Matches left | Lost against | Left to play | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Empire | 2 | 1 | NEXT, Fnatic | RoX.KiS | 36 |
| RoX.KiS | 3 | 1 | Relax, Alliance, NEXT | Empire | 33 |
 Na`Vi | 3 | 4 | Empire, PR, RoX.KiS | Insane, Aware, Sigma, TR | 24 |
 Cloud9 | 4 | 1 | Empire, Sigma, Na´Vi, RoX.KiS | Relax | 30 |
 Alliance | 4 | 0 | Cloud9, Na`Vi, Relax, Empire | - | 33 |
Since teams have played an uneven amount of matches, merely comparing points does not portray the standings accurately. Instead the teams are sorted by lack of losses, symbolizing how far up they can finish provided they do not lose further matches. At this point in the tournament, every team with more than four losses is eliminated. Team Empire is the only team to have clinched a qualification spot, although losing to RoX.KiS on Monday will drop them to second seed instead of first.
If all of the following were to happen;
A) Cloud9 loses to Relax
B) Na`Vi loses to Sigma
C) Na`Vi loses to any of the other teams
D) Sigma wins over The Retry
Sigma, Cloud9 and Na`Vi would all have 30 points. Since Sigma won both head to head matches, Cloud9 and Na`Vi would be eliminated.
The top four would be Empire, RoX.KiS, Alliance and Sigma.
The worst outcome for RoX.KiS now is a threeway tie for third/fourth alongside Cloud9 and Alliance. Since the head to head results form a circle (RoX.KiS > Cloud9 > Alliance > RoX.KiS), tiebreakers would be needed in order to settle the tie. If RoX.KiS are successful in the match against Empire, the StarLadder run for the Swedish squad is over. If RoX.KiS were to lose, Alliance have a shot at the playoffs through the just mentioned tiebreaker scenario.
On top of that, if Na`Vi were to lose one of their remaining games, they would join the hypothetical tie between four teams. This is similar to what happened in the American division before Osiris dropped out. If Na`Vi loses two or more of their matches, Alliance are safe. If Cloud9 lose their remaining match versus Relax, Alliance would also be safe. Most people would argue that Cloud9 and Na`Vi will win their upcoming matches, where the only possible wild card would be for Na`Vi versus Sigma.
To find the full tables, list of matches, results, news as well as VODs from all matches, visit the GosuGamers StarLadder event page.
