M80 have secured their place at the Singapore Major after defeating Legacy. The team earned enough VRS points to guarantee their qualification for the season’s biggest tournament.
Before the deciding match, M80 already had around an 88% chance of receiving a Major invitation based on the current VRS standings, but the victory over Legacy officially settled their qualification. According to M80 player Michael “Swisher” Schmid, the team wanted to secure their spot as early as possible to have more time to prepare.
“It’s nice. It eases us a little bit. We got some wins at the local LAN tournaments, including Roman Imperium, and we’ve also done well here. Now it gives us a little bit of a break before bootcamp for the Major,” Swisher said.
M80’s recent results helped the team build the points needed for qualification. The roster has also already shown that it can compete with strong opponents, including a victory over NAVI at BLAST Open Porto. At the same time, Swisher noted that consistency remains one of M80’s main challenges: the team can perform at the level of top squads, but does not always maintain that level from match to match.
Swisher also spoke about the team’s difficult preparation over the past few weeks. M80 have traveled extensively and competed at several LAN tournaments, meaning the players constantly had to adapt to different setups and conditions.
According to him, before arriving at the current tournament, each of the five players had averaged around 30 hours of play over the previous two weeks. The team spent six or seven days traveling, so finally being able to stay in one place, use consistent equipment, and prepare without constant travel became an important part of their preparation.
M80 will now use the time before the Major for a bootcamp and further work on their teamplay. Swisher particularly highlighted communication during matches. At times, the team can communicate too much, while in other situations they struggle with the amount and quality of their communication.
Another important issue for M80 is the Major sticker system. Following Valve’s changes to the system, sticker revenue has become a major concern for teams from the second and third tiers of the scene.
Swisher said that people across the scene are hoping Valve will reconsider the system and take feedback from teams and players into account.
“I think everyone is hoping that they rethink their stance on the stickers and the system. I think Valve isn’t one to go back on things too often, which is a bit of a scare for everybody. But the difference between this last Major and this one was really bad. Everybody suffered, especially tier-two, tier-three orgs,” the player said.
For M80, reaching the Major is an opportunity not only to compete against the best teams in the world, but also to continue establishing the organization on the international stage. With their qualification secured, the team can now focus entirely on preparing for the tournament.
As a reminder, Sashi's Scandalous Maneuver: Temporary Move to Asian Region for Major Sparks Community Outrage.
