ENCE and NRG are the first two teams to qualify for the StarLadder Berlin Major’s play-off stage, now called the Champions Stage. Each team took three consecutive wins to secure their spots in the Major’s quarter-finals, and guarantee themselves an appearance in the first Major of 2020.
Both the Finnish and North American squads qualified as a result of the Major’s group stage system - called the Swiss system. The Swiss system allows for two teams to win three consecutive games, qualifying them for the next stage before any other teams. ENCE took their first win in dominant fashion, crushing AVANGAR 16-5 in the opening match. They then went on to meet MIBR on day 2, taking their second victory 16-8 over the Brazilian squad. Their final victory came today, as they cruised to a 2-0 best-of-three win over Vitality, who is currently ranked as the second best team in the world.
Many were questioning the kind of performance ENCE would bring to this Major, as news broke recently of a roster move within the Finnish squad. In-game leader Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen was released from the active roster in favor of former mousesports rifler Miikka “suNny” Kemppi. The Berlin Major is slated to be Aleksib’s final tournament with the team. Despite this, they have qualified for the play-offs without taking a single loss.
The second team to qualify for the play-offs undefeated is North American squad NRG, who made headlines yesterday after upsetting tournament favorites Team Liquid. NRG comes into this tournament with the goal of proving themselves worthy of a top-5 world ranking, especially after adding Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz to lead the roster. After their initial stumble and loss to DreamEaters in the main qualifier, they have not yet dropped a map.
NRG narrowly defeated Renegades in their opening match, then took a surprising victory over world number one Team Liquid on day 2. Many expected them to take their first loss of the New Legends Stage today in their best-of-three progression match against Astralis, the former best team in the world. After winning a battle on Train that matched the length of the longest ever map at a Major, NRG was poised to take the series victory. A crushing 16-4 win on Nuke sealed the deal, and NRG qualified for the play-offs with a 3-0 group stage record.
Both ENCE and NRG have some time off before the play-off stage, which is set to begin on Thursday, September 5th. They will face off against one of the teams that qualifies with a 3-2 record.