Dignitas and BIG Clan are the first two teams to qualify for the European closed qualifier of ESL One Rio – the next CS:GO Major.
First impressions of the new Dignitas
Although Team Dignitas accomplished the main goal, their first few official matches could not exactly be classified as a dream start. Pretty much all of the veterans struggled and young Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli was the only real bright spot in Dignitas’ ESL One Rio open qualifier campaign.
The opening fixture vs. DIVIZON went smoothly for the Swedish core but then they had to play all 30 rounds versus Nexus and faced match points against GamerLegion before finally taking the match in triple overtime. The deciding game was more of the same as Sprout took a 1-0 map lead before conceding a comeback.
Still, a win is a win and with this early qualification, Dignitas can now skip the remaining open qualifiers and focus more on creating synergy for future endeavors.
BIG keep going strong
BIG demonstrated what a little bit of time and hard work can do for team chemistry and continued their strong start of 2020. The Germans, who won the first DreamHack Open of the 2020s in Leipzig, translated their form online and had it easy with Arena Bulls, ALTERNATE aTTaX, Fate and Team Secret before a 2-1 victory over Complexity in the Bo3 final sealed their place in the European closed qualifier.
Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş in particular is enjoying a renaissance in his BIG career as he followed a strong showing in Leipzig with a top rating among all players in the first European open qualifier.
The ESL One Rio qualifiers schedule
There are three more European open qualifiers to be played, the latest of which will be on February 12-13. The closed qualifier itself is set up for March 7-8.
