Twisted Minds Pull Off a Historic Reverse Sweep at Major 2
Being in the stadium to experience the crowd during this series was electric.
After Game 3 finished, it felt like the series was coming to an inevitable end and everyone started turning their attention to Gentle M8s and Team Secret. But all of a sudden, we saw a different Twisted Minds in Game 4 — a similar one to the squad that eliminated Gen.G in Round 5 of Swiss. This Twisted Minds would go on to flip the script, executing one of the most noteworthy reverse sweeps in recent history.
Curious what the analytics looked like? Let’s dive in.
Games 1–3: Karmine Corp Dominate Early
Karmine Corp looked in form, picking up where they left off the previous day against Furia, quickly getting out to a 3–0 lead in the series. They were generating 2.5 Expected Goals (xG) per game on 6 High Threats, converting at 105.9%.
What was even more impressive was how stingy their defense was. Twisted Minds were only able to generate 1.1 Expected Goals per match, with just 30% conversion and only 1 goal across all 3 matches. This was after Twisted Minds scored 13 goals in 3 matches against Gen.G in Swiss Round 5.
After the 5–0 in Game 3, everyone was ready to move on to the next series.
Games 4–7: The Reverse Sweep Begins
Then something changed in Game 4 — Twisted Minds started to flip the script on possession and generate more pressure. Whether it was Twisted Minds playing like they had nothing to lose, Karmine Corp taking their foot off the gas, or a combination of both, Game 4 was a dead-even coin flip analytically.
Both teams generated 1.3 Expected Goals off 4 High Threats, with possession tipping slightly in Twisted Minds’ favor at 55/45. Once Twisted Minds secured the win, they looked like a different team for the remainder of the series.
Twisted Minds began generating offense more like we saw in their Swiss matchups, converting 141.7% of their Expected Goals on 5 High Threats per match, while keeping possession balanced through the next 4 games.
Not only were they able to limit Karmine Corp’s offense to 1.8 Expected Goals per match (compared to 2.5 in Games 1–3), but KCorp’s conversion also dropped from 105% to 72.8%. Twisted Minds successfully reduced High Threats from their opponents by 2 per match as well.
What’s Next?
It’ll be interesting to see which version of Twisted Minds shows up in Game 1 against NRG, and how the series evolves as both teams feel each other out in the second Lower Bracket Quarterfinal match on Major 2’s Playoff Sunday.
