Former Gambit Esports roster M3 Champions (M3C) have officially advanced to the VCT EMEA Stage 2 Challengers playoffs, after a turbulent group stage run.
The CIS squad came in third in Group B, beating out BBL Esports and Natus Vincere in a three-way tie.
All three squads finished with a 2-3 record, but M3C came out ahead without having to play a single tiebreaker game, thanks to a very specific set of tiebreaker rules.
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M3C advance to the VCT EMEA Stage 2 Challengers playoffs
Going into the final week of the group stage, the Masters Berlin 2021 champions needed to win their final match against Team Liquid to secure a third-place finish and advance to the playoffs.
Unfortunately, their 0-2 loss to Team Liquid took their fate out of their hands. And after Natus Vincere’s win over Guild Esports, their playoffs qualification depended on the outcome of the match between BBL Esports and BIG.
If BIG won, M3 Champions would be in a three-way tie with BIG and Natus Vincere. According to the VCT Challengers rulebook, the team with the head-to-head advantage against the other two squads in a three-way tie will claim the highest standing.
M3C had previously beat Natus Vincere, while BIG had triumphed against M3C but lost against Natus Vincere. This meant that a three-way tie might have had to be settled with tiebreaker matches, assuming that the map and round differentials failed to break the tiebreaker.
Fortunately for M3 Champions, BBL Esports won their match against BIG. This effectively gave the CIS team the advantage in the head-to-head tiebreaker, having previously defeated both BBL and Natus Vincere.
This secured them the third-place finish in Group B, behind Guild Esports and Team Liquid.
VCT EMEA Stage 2 Challengers Group B results
| STANDING | TEAM | MATCH RECORD (W-L) | MAP RECORD (W-L) | ROUND DIFFERENTIAL |
| 1st | Guild Esports | 4 — 1 | 153 — 123 | +30 |
| 2nd | Team Liquid | 4 — 1 | 141 — 120 | +21 |
| 3rd | M3 Champions | 2 — 3 | 104 — 112 | -8 |
| 4th | BBL Esports | 2 — 3 | 121 — 133 | -12 |
| 5th | Natus Vincere | 2 — 3 | 166 — 167 | -1 |
| 6th | BIG | 1 — 4 | 112 — 142 | -30 |
M3 Champions are now set to face Valorant Champions 2021 winners Acend in the VCT EMEA Stage 2 Challengers playoffs on June 17, 10:00 p.m. GMT+ 8 | 8:00 a.m. PT | 4:00 p.m. GMT.
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