Combining keeping track of all SI group standing with a fulltime job turned out to be harder than I expected. I wish I could do more and make everything look good, but there are limits to how much I can do.

I will keep up with BlueSky more now, I promise!

Lastly, here are the regional matchups in Swiss. I don't think there is anything noteworthy here, but it's the last time we have these specific regions at a Major, so I couldn't leave it out. 13/13

My theory is that the groups are responsible for fewer Buchholz ties. Buchholz scores you on how well your opponents do. Since teams basically play everyone in their group, they should all have around the same score, but they then end up in different parts of the bracket. 12/13

I'm not saying these groups are predetermined. Especially the second "lower bracket" match swaps matchups around a lot. But there is a structure behind the Swiss matchups that looks very similar to actual groups and it's good to keep that in mind. 11/13

These groups can definitely hurt you as a team if you're unlucky. Soniqs got locked in a "group" with FaZe, VP and SSG (who all made main stage) just based on the first round. On the other side, Liquid got in a group with Chiefs, SCARZ and G2, none of whom made main stage. 10/13

But after the first round, the groups are locked and all Bo1s past that are part of the "group". I can even give you a whole bracket graphic. If Secret-Elevate and Chiefs-SCARZ weren't rematches (which made them swap opponents), all 20 Bo1s would have been group matches. 9/13

I wouldn't say these "groups" are bad per se. These groups are even dependent on how the first round goes. The only thing we know in advance is that teams that face each other in the first round will be in the same group, but not which other 2 teams will be in theirs. 8/13