Heading into the final two weeks of the 2023 VCT Americas season, only two teams had already locked in their spots: Cloud9 and LOUD have secured a top-two finish, and the final Sunday will determine which team takes the title of regular season champion.
Most of the pack is still in the hunt as of the start of the final week, with some teams needing significantly more help than others.
VCT Americas tiebreaker rules
In a two-team tie, the team that won the head-to-head matchup owns the tiebreaker.
In a three-team tie, a team that has won the head-to-head matchup against both of the other tied teams owns the tiebreaker. The tiebreaker between the remaining two teams is treated like a normal two-team tie. If no team has a head-to-head advantage in a three-team tie (all teams are 1-1), then the tiebreaker is determined first by map differential, then by round differential, and, if necessary, a best-of-one tiebreaker match.
In a four-plus-team tie, tiebreakers are determined in this order:
- Map differential
- Round differential
- Map differential among the tied teams
- Round differential among the tied teams
If ties are reduced to less than three teams after this process, tiebreakers for the respective number of teams must be used to break ties among them.
VCT Americas 2023 path-to-playoffs for each team
LOUD
LOUD has locked in a spot in the playoffs, as well as a top-two spot that guarantees a spot in the upper bracket quarterfinals, and the number one seed.
Cloud9
Cloud9 has locked in a spot in playoffs, as well as a top-two spot that guarantees a spot in the upper bracket quarterfinals, and the number two seed.
NRG Esports
NRG has secured a playoff spot, but they are unable to qualify for a top-two spot. Given their head-to-head tiebreaker wins against 100T, FURIA, and Sentinels, and their map differential advantage, they are locked into third place.
Leviatán
Leviatán has secured a playoff spot thanks to a FURIA loss to Sentinels, as they are guaranteed the tiebreaker on map differential, even if they were to lose 0-2 in their final match versus LOUD.
FURIA
Despite the 1-2 loss to Sentinels, FURIA has secured a playoff spot thanks to EG’s 0-2 loss to NRG, thanks to the map differential tiebreaker. They will be seeded fifth or sixth depending on if 100T advances.
100 Thieves
100 Thieves own critical head-to-head wins against EG, FURIA, and Leviatán but suffered a key loss to Sentinels while fielding a poor map differential.
100T can qualify for the playoffs with:
- A win versus MIBR.
Evil Geniuses
Thanks to their 0-2 loss versus NRG, Evil Geniuses’ playoff chances are out of their hands.
EG can qualify for playoffs with:
- An MIBR win versus 100T.
Sentinels
Sentinels really needed a 2-0 win versus FURIA but only managed to win 2-1. They then needed all three of EG, MIBR, and Leviatán to beat NRG, 100T, and LOUD respectively, but EG was unable to overcome NRG. Sentinels will not make playoffs.
MIBR
MIBR cannot qualify for the playoffs after their week eight defeat against 100T.
KRÜ Esports
KRÜ cannot qualify for playoffs; they were eliminated from playoff contention prior to the start of week eight.
