THE PHILIPPINES continues to show why the region is the strongest in CODM’s Garena Server as five teams from the country have qualified for the playoffs of the second season of the Garena Masters.
C8 United, Mamba LowKings, Smart Omega, Tyrant Esports and defending champions Blacklist Ultimate have all punched their tickets in their respective groups and will face Singapore’s and Malaysia’s best in the $25,000 (approximately P1.3 million) tournament.
Smart Omega, Tyrant come out of ‘group of death’ in CODM Garena Masters Group A
Smart Omega’s redemption arc is off to a great start as they emerged from Group C — pegged by observers as the ‘group of death’ — barely scathed. Looking fresh and playing inspired CODM after acquiring new player Ronan “Rage” Eleria, the team slotted Rage perfectly into the team composition and are looking like title contenders once again.
They finish their group stage matches with an impressive 16-2 map win-loss record, just behind Singapore’s ALMGHTY. Smart Omega now heads into the playoffs with a championship or bust mentality.
Meanwhile, Garena Youth Challengers champions Tyrant Esports has lived up to expectations to have a great showing in the second season of the Garena Masters by qualifying into the tournament’s playoffs. They beat C8’s premier team C8 Legacy as well as C8 Stealth to punch their ticket into the next round.
If not for a rampaging Smart Omega squad, Tyrant Esports could have definitely finished first in the group as they banked in on their momentum from their recent tournament wins to date.
Mamba LowKings top Group B
Invited Philippine team Mamba LowKings wasted no effort and made quick work of their opponents over at Group B, finishing with a 15-3 map win-loss record. The second-runner up of Garena Masters Season 1 showed off their dominance against sister team Mamba Corinthians, C8’s C8 Jeux, and Singapore’s Gaijin Rogue. The team is now aiming to replicate their success or best it against Garena’s best teams come playoff time.
C8 United make it out of Group C
With Singapore’s ALMGHTY taking the undisputed number 1 seed with a stunning 18-0 map win-loss record, C8 United capitalized on the opportunity to take the second and last playoff spot for Group C.
However, things weren’t easy as they were pushed to the limit by another PH squad, the up and coming team VI T2P, who are coming off an impressive debut in this iteration of the Garena Masters. Their battle went to the wire as C8 grabbed the playoff spot by a hairline, finishing with a map win-loss record of 8-10 while VI T2P ended up with 7-11.
C8 United’s victory in the group stages will end up as the only qualification berth for the entire C8 organization though as the 3 other teams under them were booted out in separate groups.
Blacklist Ultimate breezes past Group D
To no one’s surprise, defending Garena Masters champion Blacklist Ultimate eased their way into the group stages after defeating the likes of Huntsmen from Malaysia and fellow PH teams LF Organization and Warlord Esports Destra.
The reigning Eastern CODM World champions finished with a 17-1 map win-loss record, dropping 3-0 sweeps along the way. Besides their first-round matchup against Warlord, where they got their only map loss in Domination at Standoff, Blacklist displayed their usual dominance which they have shown consistently for so long now.
Fortunately for them, this is an appropriate warmup time as they are gearing up to face bitter rivals ALMGHTY of Singapore as well as a hungry and revamped Smart Omega squad raring to get a chance to try and end their reign as champs.
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