Elite League Swiss Stage is set to wrap up this Thursday after the fifth and final round of matches. However, five teams have already had their road cut short, with three more bound to follow them.
A total of 24 teams entered the battle at Elite League. The majority received direct invites to the $960,000 online tournament. Just eight teams claimed their spot via regional qualifiers, but only three of those are still fighting for a shot at making it into the next stage.
The Swiss Stage format rewards those with three wins and eliminates the teams with three losses. Among those who have already suffered three defeats are Nigma Galaxy, who made it to Elite League via MENA regional qualifiers.
This was the only opportunity for Nigma to test their new roster beyond regional competitions. Prior to Elite League, Nigma Galaxy fought in regional qualifiers for DreamLeague Season 23, ESL One Birmingham 2024 and PGL Wallachia Season 1, but fell short in all of them.
For Elite League, Kuro and co had a smoother path into the tournament as their biggest regional foes, Team Falcons and PSG.Quest received direct invites. However, when pitted against teams outside MENA, Nigma’s struggle to catch up with the tier one scene continued, despite starting the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Southeast Asian dream team Aurora.
Following their successful debut in the tournament, Nigma lost three series in a row at the hands of Talon Esports, Tundra Esports, and Team Secret. The latest defeat, versus Team Secret, held the same importance for both teams.
Secret and Nigma were one loss away from elimination, which made their direct confrontation quite a tense affair. The two teams haven’t had the opportunity to play against each other in an official match since June of last year when Team Secret took down Nigma in the lower bracket finals of Riyadh Masters 2023 MENA qualifiers. Unfortunately for Nigma, 10 months and countless roster changes later, the result was the same. Team Secret took them down 2-0 to keep their hopes alive.
Along with Nigma Galaxy, four other regional qualifier winners have already had their dreams cut short.
For Secret to make it into the next stage at Elite League, they need to repeat last night’s performance and secure a victory over Aurora, in the finals round of the Swiss stage. 9Pandas, nouns, Rest Farmers and KEV, the latter playing in the tournament as a replacement for LGD Gaming, are all at three losses and have ended their tournament run.
