The First Teams Have Been Eliminated from the 2018 CWL Championship
Four teams have been eliminated from the 2018 CWL Championships on the opening day of the event.
There is still plenty to play for on the second day of the group stage for most pools, but in Groups A to D the first teams have been eliminated from the running.
These were the groups in which each team played two matches, and while all will have a final match to play on the second day of the group stage, for some teams their fate is already decided.
Both Tainted Minds and Brash Esports are out of the running in Group B. In Group C, Zone has been sent home, while Group D sees EZG eliminated.
Group A is the only group in which no team is definitively eliminated. Epsilon currently sits at a 0-2 record with losses to Heretics and Lightning Pandas, but it is still mathematically possible for them to reach the playoffs.
Teams can hypothetically escape the group stage with only a single match win in the event of a three-way tie, and though the odds are incredibly slim, in Epsilon’s case that’s still technically possible. They would need to defeat CWL Pro League Stage 2 champions Team Kaliber 3-0, and rely on Lightning Pandas to defeat Heretics.
For Zone and EZG Esports, both of whom were unable to win a map on day one, no combination of results in the final matches could save them from elimination.
In Group B, both Tainted Minds and Brash Esports lost both of their games to Rise Nation and Lethal Gaming. As a result, the group is divided evenly after the first day, the former pair eliminated at 0-2 and the latter assured of a playoff spot at 2-0.