Rex Regum Qeon will have a much easier time in the first Icons Wild Rift Global Championships after a challenging play-in stage.
In Group B of the Icons Group stage, the Pinoy Wild Rift team will compete against two top seeds and a Chinese team.
The double-elimination system of the play-in stage is carried over to the group stage. The team that wins back-to-back games receives the top seed, while losing back-to-back games eliminates you from the series.
What will stand in RRQ PH’s way as group stages commence?
Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. is the time for the opening match between RRQ and Japan’s top seed Sengoku Gaming. Manila time.
Sengoku is out to get revenge on another Japanese team Unsold Stuff Gaming, which RRQ twice swept in the play-in stage. It will be an exciting match to witness. The kings of Japan won’t be as easy to beat as USGl because they were 13 – 1 in their group during the Japan Cup, losing only one game to Killer Gaming.
Later, Sengoku would defeat Killer Gaming 3 – 0 in the first round of the JP playoffs to exact their retribution. They were able to outscore US,G 3 – 1 in the championship match, but they were eventually defeated in a game-seven thriller. Fortunately, the Samurais regained control in the championship game to claim the Japan Cup.
RRQ PH will either play the victor or loser of the Team Queso versus J-Team clash, depending on the outcome against Sengoku.
What is known about each team is listed below.
The journey by Team Queso to the group stage of Icon was difficult. In the second round of the EU tournament, they were relegated to the lower bracket, where they finally lost to Formulation in the quarterfinals despite not having outright qualified for the last-chance qualifications.
Nevertheless, the team was able to take first place in The Purge Wild Rift EU Series, earning them the final EU LCQ spot. They lost to Rix.GG in the EU LCQ finals, 2 – 1, but they still earned a spot in the WEC EMEA Championship.
They experienced more ups and downs during their tenure in the EMEA Championship. Only placing second in the groups, they rediscovered their rhythm in the playoffs, defeating EU Champions Gamer-Lord 3-1, and then defeated Rix.GG in the championship game 4-1 to secure Icons the top spot in EMEA.
J-Team will be tough competition
Who is RRQ PH’s other potential adversary?
The trip of J-Teams Icon in 2022 was unusual. First off, despite finishing third or fourth in the WRL, the team did not really qualify for the tournament, necessitating the team’s use of the Icons Last Chance Qualifier.
They were treated poorly by the LCQ as well. They lost to OMG, 3-2, for the last spot after losing to Nova Esports, 4-2, in the lower bracket.
They received the fourth WRL Icons slot thanks to a lucky break (or a horrible one, if you’re OMG). OMG was forced to withdraw from the competition because of unforeseeable events.
The opportunity wasn’t taken for granted by J-Team. They won Group C of the Play-in stage, sweeping both the Korean team T1 and the Brazilian team Vivo Keyd Stars to advance to groups.
