No, your favourite R6 team has (probably) not missed the Atlanta Major
The 2023 Major format is very different from the previous years.
The R6 Atlanta Major is set to get underway next week, on Oct. 31 in somewhere that’s not actually Atlanta (it’s actually in Duluth, which is also in Georgia).
Last week, I wrote about how I think Bleed Esports is primed to take second place in Group B. However, this week’s post is just a clarification on some confusion I noticed last week: no, the best and biggest R6 teams in Stage 2 have not missed the Major.
All of FaZe Clan, w7m esports, Team BDS, Virtus.pro, Soniqs, M80, Dplus, and SCARZ will be at the Atlanta Major — though they won’t be playing next week.
So, what’s the deal with the group stage? Why won’t those eight teams play next week? Aren’t there eight-team playoffs from the group stage?
No, not exactly.
Six Majors prior to 2023 saw 16 teams from the four regions qualify to the Major. These 16 teams were then split up into four groups, with the top two from each group heading to the eight-team, single-elimination knockout stage.
But, the format was changed for 2023, as announced in Dec. 2022 and elaborated upon at the Six Invitational 2023. Each of the nine regions (as per the new classification) now send a certain amount of teams to the first and second phases of the newly-formatted Majors.
Majors now run for two weeks and will feature three phases, with prize pools increased to US$750,000 from the previous US$500,000. Phase 1 is what’s depicted in the image above — the play-ins. Teams that are poor during the regular season miss out on the Major entirely. Teams that are ‘good but not great’ make it to Phase 1, which features a GSL-style double-elimination format with Bo1 upper-bracket games and Bo3 lower-bracket games.
Two teams per group then progress to Phase 2, the playoffs, where eight teams that performed well in Stage 2 (in the case of the Alanta Major, they’re the aforementioned eight) are already there and waiting for the eight from Phase 1. Phase 2 has a Swiss-system format, with Bo1 games until the Bo3 elimination matches (matches that decide survival for the two teams involved). These games begin on Nov. 3.
The top eight teams then progress to Phase 3, the Finals, which will be familiar to those who were confused about the new system. This phase is exactly the eight-team playoff stage that used to exist in the old Major format and will conclude the final three days of the Major. It will have a single-elimination bracket, like before, with all matches Bo3 until the Bo5 grand-final — and it’s open to the public to attend in-person.
So, to recap:
Phase 1: The play-ins, or the group stage, as per the groups above where the top two of each group progress to Phase 2
Phase 2: Playoffs (but not like the playoffs in 2022 and before), with the top eight teams in Stage 2 of the 2023 season already waiting for the top eight Phase 1 teams
Phase 3: Finals, like the playoffs in 2022 and before, with a single-elimination bracket of the top eight teams from Phase 2