North American esports organization Sentinels have had a rough start in the VCT NA Stage 2 Challengers group stage. With losses to Luminosity, Evil Geniuses, and OpTic Gaming, the team is currently 0-3 in the Main Event and at risk of missing the playoffs.
However, they are not out of contention just yet. Tyson “TenZ” Ngo and his team could still advance to the next stage, but they must win their remaining two matches against FaZe Clan and Cloud9.
FaZe’s win over Cloud9 in Week 3 was a lifeline for the Masters Reykjavik 2021 champions, paving the way for a potential tie among multiple teams.
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Sentinels need to beat FaZe Clan and Cloud9
FaZe and Cloud9 currently sit in fourth and fifth place respectively in Group B with 1-2 records. FaZe play Sentinels in Week 4, and Evil Geniuses in Week 5. Meanwhile, Cloud9 are scheduled to play Luminosity this week, followed by Sentinels the week after.
If FaZe and Cloud9 prevail against Evil Geniuses and Luminosity, FaZe, Cloud9, and Sentinels would be tied at 2-3 match records.
Three different criteria would then come into play in determining the placements in the tie, according to the VCT NA Stage 2 rulebook: Map win percentage during the group stage, round win percentage, and team seeding prior to the group stage.
The fourth and fifth-placed teams will then play a best-of-three tiebreaker match, with the winner claiming fourth place.
However, there is one exception to this rule that could work to Sentinels’ benefit. If a team in a three-way tie holds the head-to-head advantage against the other two teams, they will claim the highest standing in the tie.
Should Sentinels best both FaZe and Cloud9, this would put them in this exact situation and allow them to automatically come up on top in the event of a three-way tiebreaker with both teams.
That said, if FaZe and Cloud9 lose their next two matches, and Sentinels win both of theirs, Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan and his squad will qualify without needing to go through any tiebreaker.
They would overtake both FaZe and Cloud9 with a 2-3 record, while the latter two teams languish at the bottom with 1-4 records.
The boys in red play FaZe on June 5, followed by Cloud9 on June 13.
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