Day 3 of regional number 3 of the Winter Split was incredible. This regional is continuing to be the less predictable as only 2 of the 6 teams that will currently be representing Europe in a world championship are still competing to win. Which means there are many points for teams to collect and try to take some of those spots and classify for the RLCS X world championship. There were many great games today with many surprises.

 

Upper Bracket

Team Liquid VS Woo

A matchup that almost everyone thought Team Liquid will take easily ended up being a huge upset from Woo. They won the first 2 games with a total score of 4-0. But when Team Liquid won the next game 4-0, many of us thought that the reverse sweep was incoming. Game 4 was really close and went to overtime after a goal by Ronaky in the final seconds. But Woo didn’t care about it and won in just the first seconds of overtime and sent Team Liquid to the lower bracket and had guaranteed themselves a huge top 6 finish in this regional.

 

Vodafone Giants VS Renault Vitality

This matchup is always close and this wasn’t the exception. Vitality won the first game in overtime in a very good game from both teams. Next 2 games were also really close but ended up going to the Giants. And after this, the Spanish team had all the momentum and won game 4 with a solid 2-0 result and sent Vitality to the lower bracket really early in the tournament. As for Giants, they continue to demonstrate why they are considered a top 3 team and even top 2 just under BDS.

 

Team BDS VS Dignitas

This was the matchup everyone was looking forward to seeing. Dignitas had recently being dominating and getting perfect sweeps and they were looking to do it with BDS. As for the French team, they were coming from some bad results during last regional and during the offseason, so people were doubting them. First game was what everyone expected, 2 solid teams that were insane on defense and didn’t let the other team score. The game was scoreless after the first 5 minutes which meant they went to overtime. And after many opportunities for both teams, Monkey Moon scored and BDS took the first game. But the rest of the series was nowhere as close as we expected. BDS completely dominated Dignitas during game 2 and won 5-1 and then won game 3 with a 3-1 score line and completed the sweep. BDS showed why they are the best team in Europe and sent Dignitas to the lower bracket.

 

Team Queso VS Oxygen Esports

The frontrunners of last regional were up against a team that is famous for their inconsistency. And what looked like a secured win, ended up being a reverse sweep. Team Queso won the first 2 games by playing a really good offense and preventing Oxygen from getting out of their side of the field. But during game 3 that game plan fell off. Oxygen started to find ways to attack Team Queso and this lead them to scoring more and preventing Queso from playing the way they like to. They continued to do this during the next 2 games and ended up winning 3-2 games. Team Queso was sent to the lower bracket and for the first time during RLCS X, Oxygen will play on Championship Sunday.

 

Woo VS Vodafone Giants

This matchup looked more than a first round than an upper bracket semifinal. Woo was looking for a miracle when they faced the Giants, and that miracle didn’t come. Giants completely dominated all 4 games. Even though the results were not blowouts, their game was just a top tier compared to how the Woo’s were playing. They swept Woo and advanced to the upper bracket finals.

 

BDS VS Oxygen Esports

The winner secures a top 3 and the loser dropped to the lower bracket. Neither of this teams wanted to be that second case so they brought everything. Oxygen won the first game and then BDS went on to win the next 4. BDS ended up winning 4-1 but this result doesn’t show how the series was played. Every single game was just a 1 goal game in which BDS insanely strong defense was enough to stop Oxygen from tying near the end of each game. And BDS secured a top 3 finish which meant that they have been at least top 4 in every single RLCS X regional and major that has been played.

This is how the upper bracket ended up looking.

 

Lower Bracket

 

Renault Vitality VS Triple Trouble

Upset alert. After a dominating game 1 from Vitality where it seemed they will sweep Triple Trouble, everything started to fall apart for them and Triple Trouble started to grow. They won game 2 by an insane score line of 6-1 goals. 6 goals against one of the best defensive teams in the whole world is something you don’t see every day. Next 2 games were close and went all the way to overtime, and surprisingly, Vitality was not the clutch team. They lost both ot’s and dropped out of the tournament and for the second consecutive regional they fail to reach day 4. And Triple Trouble advanced to losers round 4, their best result during the whole RLCS season.

 

Team Liquid VS Endpoint

I have never seen such a bad defense from a top team. Team Liquid was playing as if they wanted to lose. They were over committing when they shouldn’t, couldn’t defend their backboard and their passes were just off. All Team Endpoint had to do during the first 2 games was to wait for a Team Liquid mistake and then score. And game 3 was a complete blowout. Endpoint scored 8 goals to complete the sweep. They advanced to losers round 4 while Team Liquid was sent home with an embarrassing performance.

 

Team Queso VS Denied

Denied entered this stage of the tournament by beating Top Blokes, the team that prevented Queso from winning a regional. They were looking forward to eliminate the top 2 teams of last regional. Meanwhile Queso was looking forward to continue their run. First game was very close. Many options for both teams but they failed to scored them which meant the game will be decided by golden goal, and Team Queso was the one to score and went up 1-0 in the series. But next 2 games were very different. Denied started to apply the pressure and started to score their opportunities. They won the next 2 games 3-1 and 4-1 and were now 1 game away from securing a top 8 finish. And during game 4, they scored early in the game and then their defense lead them to the win. And just like that, they took out the 2 finalist teams of last regional.

 

Dignitas VS TrainHard Esports

This series was amazing to watch. Dignitas had just dropped from the lower bracket and TrainHard still hadn’t played. Dignitas won the first game 3-2 but TrainHard won the next 2 by 1 goal and was 1 win away from eliminating them. Game 4 looked like that elimination game and with under a minute left, Dignitas was trailing by 2 goals. But clutch plays by all of its 3 players and some mistakes by TrainHard allowed them to tie the game and ended up scoring with less than 10 seconds remaining which secured them the win. Game 5 was also very intense but Dignitas carried all the momentum and won it 1-0 and advanced to the next round.

 

Triple Trouble VS Endpoint

Both teams were coming from great wins and had a lot of momentum, but only one of them could advance. Triple Trouble won the first game with a convincing 3-0 result, and with how they had been playing many started to believe they could actually sweep Endpoint. But it was nothing near that. Metsanauris and Virtuoso put the team in their backs and started to make the comeback. Metsa had a lot of incredible goals and saves while Virtuoso was a 50v50 god, winning all of them. Endpoint ended up winning 3-1 and securing a top 6 finish.

 

Dignitas VS Denied

One of the most entertaining series of the day. Both teams were looking to advance to championship Sunday. Denied won the first game with an impressive score of 4-2 goals but then Dignitas answered by winning the second game 4-2 goals. And the next 2 games are what made this series so entertaining. First 4 minutes passed and no team had scored, but then Dignitas opened the score line with just under a minute left. Denied answered immediately and tied the game at 1. Dignitas ended up winning in overtime and putting themselves in match point. Game 4 looked like it was a win for Denied, they were up 3-0 in just 2 minutes played. But the team lead by Violent Panda fought back and forced overtime. And after 3 intense minutes of ot, Dignitas scored and secured a spot during day 4.

This is how the lower bracket ended up looking.

 

And this was the end of an amazing day of RLCS. Lots of surprises, fun games, incredible goals and saves. Now, in less than 24 hours, we will see who wins this regional.