MSI Masters Gaming Arena 2018 - Playoffs In A Nutshell

The finalists for the MSI – Masters Gaming Arena 2018 have been determined with the 4 Regional Playoffs coming to an end on 12th August.   

Following are the respective regional champions,  

• 5Power Gaming – Asian Qualifier 

• AVANGAR – CIS Qualifier 

• Movistar Riders – European Qualifier 

• compLexity Gaming – North American Qualifier 

They will now clash on 28th September at ESL One New York where the Grand Finale of MSI – MSA 2018 is scheduled to take place just before the ESL One Grand Finale. This is courtesy a partnership between MSI and ESL One.

This has been quite a successful run for MSI – MGA. The total participants, combining all the regions tallied to about 693 Teams, which when broken down to individual regions looked as follows: 

• NA Region – 247 Teams 

• EU Region – 176 Teams 

• CIS Region – 128 Teams 

• APAC Region – 142 Teams 

Every region followed the same qualifying format consisting of,  

• Open Qualifier – 1   

• Open Qualifier – 2  

• Last Chance Qualifier  

• Regional Playoffs (consists of teams making it through the previous qualifiers) 

The winner of which would represent its region in the Grand Finale.

Both the Open & Closed qualifiers followed a BO-1, Single Elimination Format whereas the Regional Playoffs followed a different format depending on the Region. 

Here a quick update on what went down in every region, from the start of the qualifiers until the grand finals. 

The NA Region witnessed 12 Teams qualifying through the Open Qualifiers along with 2 Teams coming from the Last Chance Qualifier, making it the most heavily contested Regional Playoffs with 14 Teams competing for a slot in the grand finale. 

These are the teams that made it through to the Playoffs: 

• eUnited, Furia eSports, Ghost Gaming, Gorilla Gang, Drama Dogs, Vireo.Pro [OQ-1] 

• Andrew’s Big Toe, compLexity Gaming, Team Dignitas, Mythic, Team One, Vision Gaming  [OQ-2] 

• Fam143, Ace High [LCQ] 

The playoff results were as follows: 

The European Region witnessed 8 Teams qualify for the Regional Playoffs, while 6 of them came through the Open Qualifiers the last 2 got in via the Last Chance Qualifier. 

Following teams made it through to the Playoffs: 

• Izako Boars, fightclub, PANTHERS Gaming [OQ-1] 

• FriendlyFire, topkek, Atlantic.gg [OQ-2] 

• Movistar Riders, PACT [LCQ] 

This is how the playoffs went down: 

The CIS Region also observed 8 Teams qualifying for the Regional Playoffs, 6 of the teams came from the Open Qualifiers while the remaining 2 made their way across the Last Chance Qualifier. 

These are the teams that competed at the Playoffs: 

• AVANGAR, MAKEMiSTAKE, Syman Gaming [OQ-1] 

• aimg0d, 5balls, WINSIDE eSports [OQ-2] 

• forZe, PEY [LCQ]

The playoffs proceeded in the following manner: 
 

The Asia-Pacific Region saw 6 Teams making it through the Open Qualifiers while 2 more teams made it to the Regional Playoffs from the Last Chace Qualifier. 

The following 8 teams made it till the Playoffs: 

• TNC Pro Team, Team nxl, ArkAngel Pro Team [OQ-1] 

• Alpha Red, BOOM.id, Beyond Esports [OQ-2] 

• Flash Gaming, 5Power Gaming [LCQ] 

These are the results of the Playoffs:

Today with the 4 winners being declared from their respective regions we come to the conclusion of the MSI - MGA 2018 Regional Qualifiers. The Grand Finals will take place at the Barclays Center along with the ESL One New York, where the 4 teams will compete for a prize pool of $60,000 and the coveted Trophy.