fnatic, Complexity, Heretics, and Ninjas in Pyjamas through to European Minor

fnatic, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Heretics, and Complexity have made it through to the ESL One Rio Minor thanks to going 2-0 in their series at the Europe Closed Qualifier.

Complexity had thought their chances of attending the Major were long gone up until yesterday when it was revealed that MAD Lions would have to pull out of the event, leaving Jason Lake’s team with the spot.

They made the most of it, going 4-0 in total maps with wins over Sprout and GODSENT to earn their spot at the Minor in Brazil. The team dominated the first series taking on Sprout as they didn’t give up double-digit rounds on either map. William “RUSH” Wierzba and Benjamin”blameF” Bremer led the charge, ending the series at +22 and +19 respectively in addition to 82.8 and 98.1 average damage per round.

The second series would go 16-11 on both maps favoring Complexity with all members of the team avoiding a negative scoreline by the end.

fnatic also dominated in their opener against SMASH, picking up 16-7 and 16-6 wins on Mirage and Inferno. Robin “flusha” Rönnquist showed no fear en route to 100.5 ADR and a +20 k/d differential.

Taking on their Swedish counterparts in Dignitas, this would be a nailbiter for the first two maps. Both Vertigo and Inferno went into OT with either team picking up their own pick before moving on to Overpass as the decider.

This is where things got grim for Dignitas as the legendary lineup was unable to manage a single round in the first half to be down 15-0 and nearly all hope long gone. A three-round start would save Dignitas some dignity but ultimately wouldn’t be enough as fnatic closed it out 16-3 and took the series 2-1.

NiP bested Apeks 2-1 to begin their Closed Qualifier run. The Swedish side would go down 0-1 after a 16-12 loss on Overpass, but dominate on their own pick of Inferno 16-5. They’d carry this momentum into map three but Apeks wouldn’t go down easily, taking it the distance. NiP would close it out 16-14 after an 11-4 halftime lead.

Next up for NiP was BIG and it seemed Simon “twist” Eliasson and co. were more than ready. Despite a server high 91.9 ADR from Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz, BIG would fall 0-2 to NiP on Inferno and Vertigo.

Heretics made some noise when they defeated Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt’s side in their first match 2-0. A team effort saw all five members of the French lineup go positive across the series while only Issa “ISSAA” Murad managed that feat for OG.

While things would be tougher against Heroic in the decider, it seemed Heretics at the wind at their backs, pulling off back-to-back 16-13 wins to seal the deal and their spot at the Minor in Brazil.

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