The North American Teamfight Tactics circuit for Set 6 has officially come to a close after three days of competition, with a new champion crowned and the four players representing the region at the TFT Gizmos and Gadgets Championship decided. Between incredible preparation and consistency, plus a bit of controversy, there are plenty of lessons to learn from the TFT Gizmos and Gadgets NA Regional Finals.
Milk takes the torch from Socks as NA GOAT
Every single player who qualified for the TFT Gizmos and Gadgets NA Regional Finals event did so thanks to their incredible skills in-game and preparation. And when it comes to that preparation, one way to gain an advantage is to come in with a unique game plan.
Ironically, when it comes to two of the best TFT players to ever touch the convergence, both had different plans for this tournament. On one hand, Albert “Socks” Chen came into the event with an off-meta pick that was sure to dominate the competition. But when the plan went public during in-house scrimmages, Jeffery “Milk” Pan figured out his game plan too.
The plan was simple: pilot Sivir to a guaranteed TFT Gizmos and Gadgets Championship spot. However, when Socks got eliminated after Day 1, it was up to Milk to carry the torch.
After qualifying for Day 3, Milk wreaked havoc in the six-game finals. In fact, after Game 5, he had already clinched the title of NA champion and punched his second straight ticket to the world championship. In doing so, the needle of the title of the greatest TFT player of all time tipped into his favor.
Team Liquid’s three-peat
TFT is a weird esport. On one hand, the game is one of the most popular in the world, with millions of active players. But when it comes to the esports scene, there are no millions anywhere. The professional players essentially play for scraps, and not the Set 6 trait either.
Despite that, some esports organizations still see the potential that these players do in TFT. Team Liquid are perhaps the greatest supporter when it comes to a team, and their stacked roster shows it.
Heading into the TFT Gizmos and Gadgets season, TL came in as back-to-back NA champions. Alex “Kurumx” Tompkins won the TFT Fates NA Regional finals and then last season Robin “Robinsongz” Sung won the TFT NA Reckoning regional finals.
Fast forward to the TFT Gizmos and Gadgets NA Regional Finals and TL had two players in the final eight. Robinsongz attempted to defend his throne and long-time player Aleksey “Goose” Tvorogov, previously known as Grandvice8, looked to pull off the three-peat. And after the dust settled, TL had completed a three-peat they should be proud of — but not the one they were looking for.
Despite none of their players winning the event, Goose qualified for the TFT Gizmos and Gadgets Championship. That’s TL’s third different player to qualify for the world championship in the third straight season, and that’s proof there isn’t a better team in TFT than TL.
DQA earns controversial last spot at worlds
With TFT expanding the number of players who qualify for the world championship this year, some regions got a little creative at deciding who should qualify. In NA’s case, there were four spots to give out. The first three are standard like many other regions, as the top three players at the end of the tournament (based on points in the finals) would qualify for the world championship. But the fourth slot went to the top player of the tournament overall, in a way similar to an MVP award.
But as it turned out, NA did not award their final spot to the fourth-best player in the finals. In fact, the player who earned the spot finished dead last. But thanks to his impressive performance in the first two days of the competition, Daniel “DQA” Li will go to his second-ever world championship.
DQA finished in second place on Day 1 and first place on Day 2, making him one of the favorites to qualify when it came to that MVP style final spot. But then DQA managed to top four in only one of the six final games, a full nine points away from seventh place. Yet he knew what he was doing the whole time.
DQA made sure the players who would threaten his MVP spot placed high enough to qualify through the standard points method. In fact, he strategically forfeited the last game to confirm his spot. Although the results ended up not mattering based on his forfeit, DQA showed that being creative pays off, even if it’s outside building compositions.
