With the Group Stage behind us, it was time for the final eight teams in the MWI 2024 to take their first steps in an attempt to become champions.

headline photos courtesy of David Koch

After we waved goodbye to four of the twelve teams at the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Women’s Invitational 2024 with the Group Stage coming to an end, the final eight teams began their journey to the top in the Playoffs today. Now things would heat up, with best-of-three series, and no lifeline for the teams, with a loss in a series meaning that they would be eliminated – and their key would be crushed. Having already seen some fantastic games, today would take us down to only four teams, and everything to play for.

Tournament favourite cruising

As the reigning champions of the MWI, Team Vitality Female came in as the tournament favourites – with many assuming that they would not drop a single game. However, as was made clear during the Group Stage, even the best teams have a weakness, and VIT’s was exposed in their 1-1 tie with Gaimin Gladiators HomeGirls. However, today there was no such luck for Zino Lilies, who were simply unable to match anything thrown at them by the Indonesian Queens.

While we did see the Zhask in game one for the Lilies, and Leslie in game two, the young Vietnamese team simply could not stand up to the juggernaut of VIT. It took less than half an hour in the Land of Dawn for the reigning champions to claim a 2-0 victory and march onward into the MWI 2024 semi-finals.

Chincaaw saves the day

It may have seemed as though it was an easy 2-0 victory for Falcons Vega in the second series of the day at the MWI 2024 Playoffs, but they were close to going a game down initially. It was Net Angels who seemed to be the aggressors in game one, holding control of the map and looking to take a Lord to end the game. However, during the Lord dance, Chincaaw made a massive play, taking her Harith down the middle lane while both teams were preoccupied, and dropping two turrets and the Nexus.

With the wind knocked out of their sails, NA could not get a hold of game two, even with a Masha pick to help them out. Falcons Vega walked to a solid 2-0 win and moved on to take on their ID sisters in the next round of the tournament.

With two teams eliminated, Day 1 of the MWI 2024 Playoffs is far from over, with two more eliminations on the cards. Once the day is over, four teams will remain and they will fight on July 27th to determine who will be the champion of MWI 2024 at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.