Two additional Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) teams have secured their positions in the M5 World Championship Playoffs at the conclusion of the Group Stage’s penultimate day on Wednesday (6 December).
AP.Bren of the Philippines secured the top spot in Group C, ensuring their progress to the Playoffs, while Turkey’s Fire Flux Esports became Group B’s second team to move forward. Joining them in the Playoffs are earlier qualifiers Blacklist International from the Philippines, ONIC Esports from Indonesia, and See You Soon from Cambodia.
The championship aspirations of Singapore’s Team Flash and Brazil’s RRQ Akira, however, were dashed prematurely.
Here are the standings after the fifth day of the M5 World Championship Group Stage:
AP.Bren secure place in the Playoffs, Team Flash out
AP.Bren took the top position in Group C by sweeping their initial two matches while all other teams in the group have a losing record.
Starting off their Group Stage with a 2-0 victory over Myanmar’s Burmese Ghouls on the first day, even a two-day break couldn’t slow down AP.Bren as they swept Team Flash in day five to confirm their place in the Playoffs.
The defeat also resulted in Team Flash’s elimination from the M5, with a 3-5 game record after a previous victory over Burmese Ghouls, 2-1, but a loss to Mongolia’s Team Lilgun, 2-1.
A key match between AP.Bren and Team Lilgun will determine Group C’s second qualifying team for the Playoffs.
Team Lilgun currently has a 1-1 series record from their win against Team Flash and a 2-0 loss to Burmese Ghouls. Contrastingly, Burmese Ghouls hold a 1-2 record, having lost to both AP.Bren and Team Flash.
To have a chance at making it to the Playoffs, Team Lilgun must ensure they don’t suffer a sweep against AP.Bren. A victory guarantees them the second spot; a 1-2 loss at worst could force a tiebreaker with Burmese Ghouls.
Fire Flux Esports make it to Playoffs in settled Group B, RRQ Akira eliminated
In Group B, Fire Flux Esports have secured a Playoff spot while RRQ Akira’s journey in the tournament was brought to an end.
Despite a previous 2-0 loss to RRQ Akira, Fire Flux Esports got a lucky break after Team SMG- who were already eliminated- emerged victorious against the Brazilian team. This results means that Fire Flux will finish with a 3-4 record at worst, while both Team SMG and RRQ Akira will finish with 3-5 records.
Group B’s top seed will be decided in the concluding match between Blacklist International and Fire Flux Esports.
Group D’s Playoff spots are up for grabs
As things stand, Group D is still largely unsettled while the rest of the groups have been decided.
The two Playoff spots in Group D are still under contention with TheOhioBrothers from North America already out of the race. The Advancement to the Playoffs is being battled out by Geek Fam ID from Indonesia, Deus Vult from Russia, and HomeBois from Malaysia.
A significant 2-1 win against HomeBois on day five placed Deus Vult just behind Geek Fam ID in the group standings.
With a 4-3 game record, the Indonesian team currently leads the group. They managed a sweep against TheOhioBrothers, won 2-1 against Deus Vult, but fell to a sweep by HomeBois. The Russian team are 5-4 off victories over HomeBois and TheOhioBrothers, as well as a 1-2 loss to Geek Fam ID.
TheOhioBrothers, even though they are already out, may have a say in who advances. The final match in Group D will see them go against HomeBois.
If HomeBois manage a 2-0 sweep, they’ll finish with a final 5-2 record and can expect to top the group, thus surpassing both Geek Fam ID and Deus Vult.
Even if HomeBois only manage to pull off a 2-1 victory, they could still reach the Playoffs. However, there might be a tiebreaker to determine the second Playoff spot between Geek Fam ID and Deus Vult.
If HomeBois lose to TheOhioBrothers, that would mean the end of HomeBois’ Playoff hopes, with Geek Fam ID and Deus Vult making it through from Group D.
The Group Stage of the M5 World Championship takes place from 2 to 7 December at Metro Manila’s EVM Convention Center.
The Group Stage involves 16 teams divided into four groups of four, with single round robin matches in a best-of-three format. The top two teams from each group advance to the Playoffs while the bottom two are eliminated.
The M5 World Championship Playoffs will be conducted in a double elimination format with all matches taking the form of best-of-five series, except for the final Grand Final which would be a full best-of-seven series.
The phases of Knockout Stage would take place at the EVM Convention Center as well. The first phase runs from 9 to 12 December and includes the upper bracket quarterfinals (9 to 10 December), the first round of the lower bracket (11 December), and the upper bracket semifinals (12 December).
For more details on the M5 World Championship, follow this link.
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