Cover Image Courtesy: ViCi Gaming
With all the Closed Qualifiers for IEM Sydney 2019 taking place at the same time, the last day was hectic with three teams from the three qualifiers moving through to the Main Event. It was a long day as three grand finals took place consecutively, all of whom were a Bo5 series with the team qualifying through Upper Bracket having a single match advantage.
ViCi Gaming, MVP PK and B.O.O.T-d[S] were the teams that qualified onto IEM Sydney 2019 through their respective qualifiers.
China Closed Qualifier
As expected the Chinese Closed Qualifier grand finale witnessed ViCi Gaming take on Tyloo for the second time in the event.
ViCi had yesterday lost to Tyloo in two straight matches to fall down to the Lower Bracket from where they clawed their way back into the finals after defeating Panda Gaming today with a series score of ‘2-0’.
The finale was an intense series with ViCi coming through as the true victors. ViCi won on Mirage which was followed by a crushing victory for Tyloo, who took down ViCi by a score of ‘16-4’.
ViCi were quick to respond by retaliating in equal measure and took Tyloo down on Overpass by a score of ‘16-4’. The final showdown took place on Dust 2 which witnessed ViCi come out on top and qualify onto the Main Event.
East Asia Closed Qualifier
The East Asian Closed Qualifier observed an unexpected forfeit from Strom Riders in their first match due to some technical difficulties being faced by them followed by a loss on Mirage which sealed a face-off between Absolute and MVP PK in the finals.
The finals were quite a bore with MVP PK storming through the ranks of Absolute and tearing them apart without facing much resistance. MVP took down Absolute on their own map Overpass with a score of ‘16-8’ followed by another victory on Inferno with a score of ‘16-5’.
SEA Closed Qualifier
B.O.O.T-d[S] was successful in making its way through the Lower Bracket and into the Grand Finals, taking down Alpha Red today in back-to-back matches on Nuke and Dust 2.
The finale between B.O.O.T-d[S] and Lucid Dream was a single sided affair as B.O.O.T-d[S] won Nuke, Train and Mirage one after the other to move on to IEM Sydney 2019 - Main Event.
Opinion
I was really looking forward to the finals of the Chinese Closed Qualifier which witnessed a clash between the top two teams from China and was it worth the wait. The finale went down to the last map with ViCi come out as the victors, proving to everyone that it was not a fluke and that it truly deserved the number one spot on the rank list.
Watching B.O.O.T-d[S] make its way through the Lower Bracket was a treat, after falling down on the first day the team kept going at it relentlessly and qualified. As for the East Asia region, I would have been utterly disappointed if some other team rather than MVP PK would have qualified.
Stay tuned as another team makes its way through the Oceania Qualifier in April.
