EPT
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/RSL/season3groups.png)
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/misc/RSL/season3bracket_1.png)
After featuring David Kim meme-esque racial balance in its past two playoffs, RSL tilted toward Protoss in Season 3 with the representatives of Aiur claiming five out of eight post-season spots. All top three Protosses in Classic, herO, and MaxPax are in the mix, but another Protoss title is far from a foregone conclusion. With Reynor's form ramping up and Maru looking far improved compared to his recent disappointing performances, the battle for the championship is sure to be intense.
The playoffs will begin on Thursday, Nov 20 10:00am GMT (GMT+00:00) with all four of the initial RO8 matches in the double-elimination bracket.
Group A: MaxPax's last place elimination from his RO16 group in Season 2 was one of the biggest upsets we've seen in RSL so far, but the online monster made up for it with a typically strong performance to clinch first place. Solar fell victim to the rematch curse in the race for second place, defeating Zoun in his initial bout by narrowly losing in the decider match.
Group B: Back-to-back champion Classic advanced in first place as expected, but the second place spot gave us a minor surprise with Trigger advancing over Cure. Again, the rematch curse came into play—Cure took down Trigger with two-base all-ins in their initial series, but Trigger rallied to get his revenge in the decider match.
Group C: herO was the only player to advance with a perfect 4-0 map score, taking care of business against Gerald and SHIN. The decider match between ByuN and SHIN looked to be a 50/50 proposition on paper, but SHIN showed surprisingly strong late-game play (a weakness for him in the past) to overwhelm his opponent and secure a playoff spot.
Group D: Maru's poor play in online tournaments throughout 2025 was a concern headed into this group, but such worries were briefly assuaged as he advanced in first place with a convincing showing. While Reynor fell 0-2 to Maru, he had no problem cleaning up against heavy underdogs sOs and Ryung to take second place.
