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Since nobody can overtake them anymore, Team BDS is the third EU team to top their group!

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With the nervewracking Falcons-RazaH Company Academy match being now 1-1, PSG Talon is locked in 5th place in their group, which means they'll go home tomorrow!

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Here are the group standings for Groups B & D with every possible result

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Combining keeping track of all SI group standing with a fulltime job turned out to be harder than I expected. I wish I could do more and make everything look good, but there are limits to how much I can do.

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I'm gonna do something I haven't done in a while. I'm just sharing a screenshot of Google Sheets. This is what I use to get an overview of the consequences of multiple matches. These are just for Groups A & C. I will try to do more for Groups B & D later.

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The first Brazilian team to secure a place in the upper bracket is FaZe Clan!

Another loss for the Japanese team means SCARZ's SI journey is over. They still play a match tomorrow, but after that they will go home.

The wins keep on coming for EU! Team BDS lock down top 2 in their group and secure their place in the upper bracket!

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While no other teams are confirmed in their group yet, Virtus.pro has already locked down a top 3 placement, which will put them in the upper bracket!

With their flawless streak in their group, G2 Esports has already locked down first in their group, which means they skip the first match in the upper bracket!

Despite their loss, DarkZero still score enough points to secure playoffs!

Four teams are already playing their last groups match today. Can they get enough points to hold on to their place in the standings tomorrow?

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By winning at least a map in every match they've played so far, Virtus.pro take the top spot in Group D and qualify for playoffs!

After a loss on day one, Shopify Rebellion bounce back and become the first team to qualify for playoffs in Group B!

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Group C also has an LCQ team already confirmed for playoffs: RazaH Company Academy

As a result of the matches left in Group A, we also have our very first team qualified for the upper bracket: G2 Esports

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It's only day 3 and they still have one match to go, but TEAM JOEL can't overtake anyone in their group anymore, which means they're the first team to go home.

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I will keep up with BlueSky more now, I promise!

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The Six Invitational 2025 has truly started! The first upsets have already happened, but a few teams are have a hard journey ahead of them if they want to make it out of groups.

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Lastly, here are the regional matchups in Swiss. I don't think there is anything noteworthy here, but it's the last time we have these specific regions at a Major, so I couldn't leave it out. 13/13

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My theory is that the groups are responsible for fewer Buchholz ties. Buchholz scores you on how well your opponents do. Since teams basically play everyone in their group, they should all have around the same score, but they then end up in different parts of the bracket. 12/13

I'm not saying these groups are predetermined. Especially the second "lower bracket" match swaps matchups around a lot. But there is a structure behind the Swiss matchups that looks very similar to actual groups and it's good to keep that in mind. 11/13

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These groups can definitely hurt you as a team if you're unlucky. Soniqs got locked in a "group" with FaZe, VP and SSG (who all made main stage) just based on the first round. On the other side, Liquid got in a group with Chiefs, SCARZ and G2, none of whom made main stage. 10/13

But after the first round, the groups are locked and all Bo1s past that are part of the "group". I can even give you a whole bracket graphic. If Secret-Elevate and Chiefs-SCARZ weren't rematches (which made them swap opponents), all 20 Bo1s would have been group matches. 9/13

I wouldn't say these "groups" are bad per se. These groups are even dependent on how the first round goes. The only thing we know in advance is that teams that face each other in the first round will be in the same group, but not which other 2 teams will be in theirs. 8/13

While Swiss feels very random in which team faces which, there is always a rule-based system underneath. You can see this if you try to find patterns in how matchups are determined. For example, if the first 2 rounds use the same matchup system, you'll always get "groups". 7/13

It is the first time we have seen no Buchholz ties in round 5 and the final Swiss standings, which I would say is a good thing. I do want to talk a little about the idea of Swiss though. 6/13

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The thing with seeding is that it doesn't just determine the first round. Buchholz only starts to work after 2 rounds, so the first 2 rounds are basically entirely determined by seeding, and any ties after round 2 are broken by seeding as well. And there are always ties. 5/13

Here is the seeding order, which determined what the matchups would be in the first round. You can easily see who everyone faces with Dutch matchups: it's the team two spaces above or below them, like how BDS faced w7m in the first round. 4/13

For Montreal, they went a step further. The first two rounds of Swiss matchups were now determined by the Dutch system, and the rest by the default system. 3/13

In 2023, both Majors used the default matchup system for all their Swiss rounds. It means the best/highest seeded team faces the worst/lowest seeded team. There are other matchup systems though, and for Manchester they switched to the Dutch system for the first Swiss round. 2/13