The World Elite star Xiaofeng 'Sky' Li has kept his ESWC dream alive by beating Meet Your Makers (MYM) 21-year-old Orc player Manuel 'Grubby' Schenkhuizen.

The Dutchman was almost certain to qualify going into his last group match against Sky, with two wins from two; beating Du Seop 'Wh0' Chang 2-1 in a tight mirror match, losing the first game on Echo Isles but winning Turtle Rock and the deciding map.

Luck was against the MYM players though as both Grubby and Jae Ho 'Moon' Jang were put out on round difference. Sky had earlier lost to Wh0 and needed to win his final game to stand any chance of qualifying for the single elimination play-offs, he did, comfortably.

Group B was similarly stacked as three players all finished with two wins and a loss to their name. 20-year-old South Korean Seo Woo 'ReiGn' Kang from SK Gaming finished first, though there was a controversial decision made for second place as Yoan 'ToD' Merlo and Moon finished with equal wins, points and round difference. The Frenchman had lost his only match to Moon 1-2, but it was decided that he would progress.

The only group which was slightly more straightforward was group C in which three European players battled for a spot in the play-offs. Kim 'Sase' Hammer surprisingly finished ahead of Xiang 'THOO' Huang from wNv, both qualify.

Group D was the most surprising as 20-year-old Chinese Undead star Zhuo 'TeD' Zeng ran away from his opponents, narrowly beating both Gravitas' Mykhaylo 'HoT' Novopashyn and June 'Lyn' Park from SK Gaming 2-1. He also beat another SK star, Lee 'Soju' Seong Deok, 2-0 to continue his rout and finish top of his group as only one of two unbeaten players.

The final match of group D was between Soju and HoT, the Ukrainian had lost both his matches narrowly and regardless of the result wouldn't progress despite all three players eventually finishing on three points each. An SK player was certain to progress and it was Soju who had fate in his own hands but lost 2-0, meaning his team mate Lyn would progress.

Single elimination play-offs

ALTERNATE.SaSe (Night Elf) versus mTw.WhO (Orc) - match
SK.ReiGn (Undead) versus SK.Lyn (Orc) - match
WE.Sky (Human) versus wNv.TH000 (Human) - match
WE.TeD (Undead) versus GG.ToD (Human)- match

There are three South Koreans, three Chinese and two European players in the play-offs. There are two SK Gaming players, two World Elite players, one mTw, one Gravitas, one wNv and an Alternate player. There's one Night Elf, two Orc, two Undead and three Human players in the play-offs.

The way the brackets are shaped means both Asian communities have to play one another, meaning an all Chinese or South Korean final is impossible, but an all European final, however unlikely, is a possibility. There can't be two players from the same team in the final, either.