The Group Stage of Esports Arena’s Rewind II has completed, with four teams proceeding to the Upper Round of 6 and four teams falling to the Lower Round of 8.

Group A

Group A featured froyotech, SVIFT NA, Velocity eSports, and King’s Crew fight it out in a Round-Robin group.

Froyotech emerged from the group nearly unscathed, losing only one round from every team. With six straight wins in the Group Stage, froyotech lock in their Upper Bracket slot and look to be the most dominant team at Rewind once again.

SVIFT NA, while below froyotech, had a strong showing in the Group Stage. With a hard loss to froyotech and a substantial victory over King’s Crew, SVIFT NA vs Velocity eSports was the ultimate tie-breaker in Group A to determine which team would attain a seed into the Upper Bracket and which would fall to the Lower Round of 8. Online, the two teams remained neck-and-neck, with Velocity eSports winning their ESEA match against them by just one round and the second map of the Rewind II Closed Qualifier going to a 1-0 scoreline. But those online matches would have no bearing on how either team played at LAN, as SVIFT NA stomped Velocity in the Group Stage, thanks in part to strong showings from highfive and botmode. With their victory over Velocity eSports, SVIFT NA proceed to the Upper Bracket.

Velocity eSports fell short of their Upper Bracket appearance, falling to both froyotech and SVIFT NA. After a loss to froyotech in the first round, Velocity eSports would struggle in their first match against King’s Crew on Process. A strong showing from yimi on King’s Crew turned into a struggle for Velocity, with the match ultimately going down to 4-3 in favor of Velocity eSports. The next map of Gullywash was more favored for Velocity, as they cruised to a straight 5-0 win against the underdog team. However, their troubles did not stop there. With two losses to SVIFT NA with little resistance. Velocity eSports venture down into the Lower Round of 8 going into the playoffs.

King’s Crew could be classified as the underdog of Group A, with the team coming from Intermediate as opposed to the reigns of Invite the other teams dominate. The team ultimately fell to all teams in their group, despite a initial strong showing against Velocity eSports. King’s Crew will enter the Lower Round of 8 without a victory, but a chance at redemption.

Group B

Group B featured Se7en, Ascent, black swan, and Big Chips duke it out in a Round-Robin group.

Se7en, coming off of their second place finish at Esports Arena’s Rewind Invitational last year, come back to Santa Ana with the intention of rematching against froyotech in the Grand Finals. With a dominant win against black swan, Se7en met their major opponent with their matchup against Ascent. With both teams being considered top teams in their respective regions, the match would be an indication of how well Se7en would perform against the best teams in North America. While the first map of Process went firmly in the hands of Se7en, it wasn’t without jumping the hurdle of Ascent’s strong scouts, with paddie standing out with the highest damage of any players in the match. In the second map of Snakewater, Se7en started off solid with a stroll onto last, getting their first point up against Ascent. While Ascent would gain the first mid of the second round, a drop on Raymon, and attempt to push into last, a backcap from Thalash on Engineer would push Ascent back to middle and allow Se7en to reform. A reverse sweep by Se7en immediately followed, pushing Ascent back another point and, after multiple trades on mid, eventually putting Se7en up 2-0. With 16 minutes left and down two points, Ascent pushed to full throttle, winning the next mid and after two pushes onto last, stamped their first point on the scoreboard. The next round played out in a similar fashion, with Ascent pushing to Se7en’s second point. But, Se7en struck back against Ascent, pushing Ascent back to their own second point. After two minutes of building and skirmishes, Ascent took the middle point back and attempted a last push onto Se7en once again, successfully taking another point for themselves and tying the game up 2-2. With five minutes left, the team to win the next round would have the map almost guaranteed. With a strong mid from Se7en and the subsequent taking of second point, it seemed as though Se7en would be able to roll onto Ascent’s last. Pushing into Ascent’s last, Se7en were able to gain some time on point before their offense was nearly completely wiped, forcing Raymon and Thalash back to the second point to regroup. Despite Ascent’s acquisition of their second and mid, Se7en would push back again and gain a second chance at pushing last. Strong shotgun plays from sighguy would shut out the opposition and Ascent would reverse sweep against Se7en. With one minute to go, Ascent had only one push to win the match before it would go into overtime. Ascent would end up taking the last point successfully, securing a map victory over Se7en and ending their matchup against Se7en with a 1-1 map scoreline. Se7en proceed into the Upper Bracket with their five map victories, losing only one to Ascent.

Ascent showcased an excellent showing in the Group Stage, tying up with their biggest opponent in the group in the form of Se7en. Along with their iron-fisted victories over black swan and Big Chips, Ascent have displayed a strong showing at Rewind II, going into the Upper Bracket with Se7en.

black swan come into Group B as the Invite underdog, currently standing in 7th place in the Invite Regular Season. While the team would be unable to find success against Ascent and Se7en, black swan were able to take two maps off of Big Chips, with the first map going into overtime in favor of black swan and black swan winning the second map with only one round over Big Chips. black swan proceed to the Lower Round of 8 with only two map victories in the Group Stage.

Big Chips, an Intermediate mix, struggled to gain a foothold in their group, finding zero victories. Ascent rolled over Big Chips and eventually lost against black swan, with victory in the matchup against black swan as close as just one round. A forfeit against Se7en would seal their fate to the lower bracket, where they will begin in the Lower Round of 8.

With the Group Stage complete, the Playoffs bracket will appear as shown below:

Credit: Liquipedia

The Esports Arena Rewind II LAN will resume action on February 17th at 10AM PST (7 AM EST) on the Teamfortress.tv twitch channel.