MOUZ NXT out of contention as WePlay Academy League Season 5 reaches play-in

The four-time Academy League champions are not among the names left standing as the league nears playoffs.

Season 5 of WePlay's Academy League has reached the end of its group stage, seeing six teams sent packing from the tournament while fnatic Rising and BIG Academy secured spots in the playoffs by topping their respective groups.

BIG Academy had by far the most dominant run through the early stage of the tournament, dropping just one best-of-one match to Young Ninjas while often beating their opponents in dominant fashion to secure their berth. fnatic Rising, meanwhile, had a harder time of things in what ended up being the closer group, managing to edge into first place with an 8-4 record following a crucial win over NAVI Junior.

BIG Academy were dominant in the group stage

The six teams that weren't eliminated — the second to fourth place ones from each group — will now head to the play-in, where they will battle for the other two spots in the playoffs. For that, NAVI Junior and Young Ninjas will start in round 2 of the bracket as a result of finishing in second in their groups, while FURIA Academy, Astralis Talent, Spirit Academy, and OG Academy will face off in round 1 in hopes of playing against the second place teams for a spot in the playoffs.

Here are the final standings from the group stage:

Group A

TEAM

M

P

fnatic Rising

12

24

NAVI Junior

12

21

Spirit Academy

12

21

Astralis Talent

12

21

MOUZ NXT

12

18

PROSPECTS

12

15

Eternal Fire Academy

12

6

Group B

TEAM

M

P

BIG Academy

12

33

Young Ninjas

12

27

FURIA Academy

12

24

OG Academy

12

18

ENCE Academy

12

12

Apeks Rebels

12

12

Young Gods

12

0

The most shocking of the teams not to make it through to the next round is MOUZ NXT, who hold the title from the previous four seasons but won't be able to defend it for a fifth time, having won just half of their matches in the group stage to end their run just shy of play-in contention in fifth place.

The Kamil "⁠siuhy⁠" Szkaradek-led side will instead have to watch from the sidelines as the previous grand finalists from BIG Academy gear up in hopes of making a repeat run, with the bracket stage set to commence on Friday at 15:00 .

Before that though, the play-in matches will take place, the draw and schedule for which can be found below:

Tuesday, August 9
15:00 FURIA Academy vs. Astralis Talent
18:00 Spirit Academy vs. OG Academy

Wednesday, August 10
15:00 NAVI Junior vs. FURIA Academy/Astralis Talent
18:00 Young Ninjas vs. Spirit Academy/OG Academy