Week four of the Sports World Cup gave us three action-packed tournaments with three separate winners. After last week's group stage, PUBG Mobile crowned Alpha7 Esports as its champion. In the Overwatch 2 tournament the Crazy Racoons captured their first World Cup Tournament win in dominate fashion. In the Women’s MLBB Smart Omega Empress emerged victorious. It has now been a month since the start of this global event and it's been electrifying, start to finish.
PUBG Mobile
After placing fifth in the group stage last week, Alpha7 Esports was able to bypass the survival stage. Their 91 points put them 30 over the threshold needed for the bye. This gave them a firm position as one of the top teams in the tournament. In the Main Stage round of the tournament, two of the top four teams in the Group Stage struggled mightily. Yoodo Alliance and 4merical Vibes finishing in the bottom five left a vacancy, an opportunity for another team to seize the tournament crown. Alpha7 saw this opportunity and ran with it, scoring 30 more points than second place and capturing the tournament win.
Overwatch 2
From start to finish, the Crazy Racoons were dominant in the Overwatch 2 Esports Tournament. In the group stage, they went undefeated, capturing first place in their group. In their first matchup of the Playoff Stage, the Crazy Racoons would route ENCE by sweeping them 4 to 0. In the next round, Crazy Racoon vanquished Team Falcons in a similar manner. They would win 4 games to 1 to advance to the Final. In the Grand Final, the Crazy Racoons faced off against Toronto Ultra and yet again dominate. They won the series and thus the tournament in a decisive five games. This run is one of if not the most impressive runs in the tournament. To put this in perspective, if you add every loss that the Racoons had into one series they’d have still beaten their opponent. Additionally, in this tournament, the second place Toronto Ultra lost 13 matches total, more than half of those matches were lost to Crazy Racoons. Toronto Ultra had a 1 and 7 record vs the Crazy Racoons and an 18 and 6 record versus the field. What a performance by the Crazy Racoons.
Women’s MLBB
Smart Omega Empress started the tournament off hot, placing first in their group. They would carry this momentum over into the Playoff Stage. In the Quarterfinals, the Gaimin Gladiators x Homegirls put up a valiant effort but were defeated 2 games to 1. In the Semi’s, Victory Song Gamers were no match for Smart Omega Empress as they were swept 3 to 0. Now in the Grand Final, Smart Omega Empress faced its toughest challenge yet: Team Vitality. Team Vitality had only lost one match in their entire run to the Grand Final. However, Team Smart Omega Empress easily overwhelmed Team Vitality and swept them in a 3 to 0 series victory. This victory allowed them to capture the tournament win and be crowned MLBB Women's champions.
After the halfway point of the 2024 Esports World Cup, Team Falcons have pulled ahead of the pack. On the back of two third place finishes this week, Team Falcons has pulled out to a 2000 point lead. Second through fourth place are all separated by less than 100 points, with Team Liquid, Natus Vincere, and Gaimin Gladiators all battling for silver. Tied for fifth Alpha7 Esports, Selangor Red Giants, T1, Crazy Raccoon, and Smart Omega Empress all have 1000 points. The first half of this tournament has been action packed, and there's still a month left. Starting next week, the 2024 Esports World Cup will host tournaments for Rainbow Six Siege, Honor of Kings, and Apex Legends. For more information on these tournaments and for the schedule of the events go to the Esports World Cup’s Website. Come back next week to Sporting Tribune for a recap of the action.