photo source: @Resolut1on_
The WESG Europe and CIS group stage from the Regional LAN Finals concluded last night with both Ukrainian and both Swedish squads claiming the first four places in the $1.5M Global Grand Finals, the last stage of the tournament.
Out of the twenty national teams qualified for the European and CIS Regional Finals, eight have been eliminated at the end of the group stage and four have already secured their spots into the $1.5M WESG Global Grand Finals from China. The Kiev LAN will continue today at Stereo Plaza with the playoffs stage.
Two of the strongest teams coming to WESG, Alliance (representing Sweden of course) and Team Ukraine with Dendi, GeneRal, Artsyle, Resolut1on, and Alwayswannafly topped their groups. Dendi and co. got seeded in the most contested group, alongside Team Romania (lead by Pittner 'bOne7' Armand) and Que La Famille- (lead by Sébastien '7ckingMad' Debs). However, the Ukrainians had no problem securing the twelve maximum points, thus their tickets for the last tournament act.
The same did Team Horde, the other Swedish team featuring the likes of Akke, Xcalibur and Pablo in group A. With an undefeated run through the group stage, they will join their friends from Alliance in China later this year.
More interesting is the fact that Ne Rusb, a team who initially failed to qualify for the regional finals but got a second chance after Ukrainian Cossacks pull out from the competition, managed to top group C without losing a single game. Their rather unexpected dominant performance in Kiev, given their run in the national qualifiers, sends Ukraine with two teams to fight for the hefty 1.5M dollar prize pool in China later this year.
With the playoffs being played in a single-elimination bracket, the winners of each group have been seeded into the quarterfinals while second and third place finishers from each group are starting from the first round of the bracket. Whoever loses the first best-of-three round will go home without any other shot at the WESG Global Grand Finals. The rest of the rounds will be played to determine the regional qualifiers prize pool split.
Playoffs day one schedule:
09:30 CEST Comanche vs Denmark
09:30 CEST Imperial vs Que La Famille
12:45 CEST Alliance vs TBD
12:45 CEST Ne Rusb vs TBD
16:00 CEST Team Romania vs woof (dog)
16:00 CEST Fantastic 5 vs Wombat Gaming
21:00 CEST Team Ukraine vs TBD
21:00 CEST Horde vs TBD
Kiev Regional LAN Finals prize pool distribution:
1st place: ?200,000 (~ $30,000)
2nd place: ?120,000 (~ $18,000)
3rd place: ?60,000 (~ $9,000)
4th place: ?40,000 (~ $6,000)
5th place: ?20,000 (~ $3,000)
6th place: ?20,000 (~ $3,000)
7th place: ?20,000 (~ $3,000)
8th place: ?20,000 (~ $3,000)
