Heroic secure Major spot, Movistar Riders move on to playoffs at IEM

After tiebreakers in Group B, Movistar Riders made it to the playoffs and HEROIC secured third place, leaving SINNERS and Complexity out of a chance for a spot at the Major.

With the results of the Group B's final matches going the way of Astralis, Movistar Riders and HEROIC, three teams finished the group 3-2 and tiebreaker matches decided the final placings of the group.

The tiebreakers decided whether SINNERS, HEROIC and Movistar Riders would progress to the playoffs, play in the 9th-12th decider bracket, or be eliminated. The Spanish team came out on top with two victories and finished second in Group B, while HEROIC managed to send SINNERS packing in fourth place, despite the result not impacting their own qualification for the Major.

Movistar Riders and Endpoint kicked off their last match of the group on Vertigo as the Spanish side needed a win and the results of the two other matches in the group to go their way in order to progress, or at least force a three-way tie in the group.

The British team took a three round lead before Movistar Riders took control of the game and set a 10-5 CT half. Endpoint secured the second pistol before the Spaniards replied with five rounds, taking them to match point. Joey "⁠CRUC1AL⁠" Steusel and co. kept the map competitive but in the end fell short as Movistar Riders won Vertigo 16-12.

HEROIC took on Complexity on Nuke, aiming for a third place finish in the group while the international squad held on for tournament life. The CT side of the Danish team went smoothly as they held off Complexity and after finding their form, locked down the half 11-4.

René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen and Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali topped the leaderboard for HEROIC as they comfortably dealt with the international lineup and closed out the map 16-5. The loss eliminates Complexity from the event and they are now out of contention for the Major as Heroic headed into the 3-way tie scenario with Movistar Riders and SINNERS.

SINNERS went into their final match of the group with the potential to deny an Astralis clean sweep. It was the Danes who ended up choosing Nuke and they put on a strong T side to lead the Czech side 10-5 at the half.

Astralis were in full control throughout the map and in the second half pulled ahead to 15 rounds immediately. SINNERS made an attempt to contest the Danes but inevitably lost 16-8.
The Danes managed to qualify yesterday for the Major as no results today would impact their progression in this event but the result means that SINNERS moved into the 3-2 tie-breakers.

The final results of Group B are: