We've reached the final week of the Pacific Championship's regular season and three teams' playoffs hopes are on the line. After some impactful results in Week 5 Blank, ahq and HKA will fight for their right to join Ardeont and Flash Wolves in the playoffs.
Where do the Wolves stand?
More question marks than ever surround the Wolves. After being upset by ahq in Week 4, Flash Wolves bounced back to handle HKA in a 3-1 victory. The scoreline is deceptive however, as HKA kept things close throughout the match and drew with Flash Wolves on Horizon Lunar Colony.
Flash Wolves will make the playoffs, that much is certain. However, how the team will perform in their semifinal matchup is completely up in the air. After dominating the entire competition last season Flash Wolves barely earned victories against Machi Esports and Hong Kong Attitude before finally dropping a match to non-Korean competition, namely ahq. With their semifinal matchup also still a mystery, it is unclear exactly what the Wolves' odds are of making the Grand Final.
What is known is that the pack will be hungry to return to their dominant ways, at least when they are not facing the Koreans. Their final three matches of the regular season offer the Wolves the opportunity to show that they still have what it takes, as they play quality teams Blank, MEGA and Ardeont all in one week. At this point their fixture against Ardeont can almost be chalked up as a loss before it is even played, but the games against Blank and MEGA will serve as an important yardstick before the playoffs begin.
MEGA down ahq and change the playoff race
Disaster struck for ahq in Week 5, as they fell to sixth seed MEGA Thunder in a tense 3-2 struggle. With the playoffs race neck and neck between Blank, HKA and ahq, this loss has now put the Taiwanese team at a disadvantage heading into the last week.
Tiebreakers are decided at the end of the regular season by teams' match records and then their map records. As such, ahq need to have a monster week to make playoffs. HKA are in the best position to secure a playoffs spot; a win against Machi will lead to the team advancing to the next stage as long as Ardeont defeat both Blank and ahq. ahq's best chance at qualifying for playoffs is securing victories against Blank and HKA, alongside Blank failing to earn a single win in Week 6. Anything less than this will likely eliminate ahq from contention, unless they're able to defy the odds and defeat the Koreans.
Week 5 standings
The standings at the conclusion of Week 5 can be found below:
- 1 Ardeont 11W-0L (33-1-0)
- 2 Flash Wolves 9W-2L (30-15-1)
- 3 Blank Esports 7W-4L (23-16-1)
- 4 Hong Kong Attitude 7W-5L (24-20-2)
- 5 ahq eSports 6W-5L (24-19-0)
- 6 MEGA Thunder 4W-8L (18-27-0)
- 7 Machi Esports 2W-10L (11-30-2)
- 8 Libalent Supreme 0W-12L (1-36-0)