BNE earn Legends Stage berth over GamerLegion in controversial fourth-place decider

GamerLegion will subsequently begin their BLAST.tv Paris Major campaign from the Challengers Stage.

Bad News Eagles locked in a Legends Stage appearance at the BLAST.tv Paris Major after moving past GamerLegion in the Europe RMR A fourth-place decider.

The four Legends Stage teams from the Europe RMR A are:

Consequently, GamerLegion finish their Europe RMR A run in fifth place, and will instead start the BLAST.tv Paris Major, which plays out on May 8-21, in the Challengers Stage.

The deciding matchup between Bad News Eagles and GamerLegion didn't come without controversy, though. With there being just four Legends Stage berths up for grabs in Europe RMR A, only two of the three 3-1 teams are able to finish in the top four and skip the Challengers Stage in its entirety.

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Europe RMR A round 5 matches set; illogical use of Legends Stage decider seeding comes under fire

BLAST opted to seed the all-important decider game before all five rounds of competition had concluded.

A consequence of this is that, as pointed out by Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand, GamerLegion could have earned their own Legends Stage spot — without fighting in the fourth-place decider — and finished as the third seed had the decider game been held after round five and should certain results elsewhere go in their favor, as GamerLegion's Bucholz Score (the sum of scores of a team's opponents) would have been higher.

What's more, BLAST was due to make an announcement with regard to the seeding dilemma late on Saturday, but this never materialized. The TO allegedly decided against making a public decision surrounding their ruling, with Bad News Eagles and GamerLegion's fourth-place decider going ahead regardless to allow Into the Breach to progress to the Legends Stage in Paris as the RMR A's third seed.

Bad News Eagles enjoyed a hot start to the series, screaming and being visibly energized as they waltzed to an 11-4 advantage by the end of their attacking phase on Mirage. From that point on, it was simply a case of the Kosovar roster converting their overwhelming lead, adding five rounds to the European combine's three to get a leg-up in the series, 16-7.

GamerLegion managed to tie the series up after a barely prevailing in a full-length, 30-round brawl on Ancient, but Bad News Eagles immediately responded with a deadly 10-round T-side on the Vertigo decider. With the wind in Bad News Eagles' sails, there was little GamerLegion could do fend off defeat; the Kosovar-Swiss lineup marched forward, dropping just two rounds before earning their place in the BLAST.tv Paris Major Legends Stage.