Europe’s ESL One Rio closed qualifier included some prominent names. Most of them made it through to the Minor, but there were a couple of exceptions. Let’s see what happened, shall we?
Sweden holds up in ESL One Rio closed qualifier
The two stalwart brands of Swedish CS:GO – Fnatic and Ninjas in Pyjamas, had stooped as low as the closed qualifier for this Major. They did what they had to do to avoid further damage with wins against Dignitas and BIG Clan, respectively. This way both legendary brands remain with a chance of returning to the Major’s main stage.
Fate had a different spin for their opponents in those upper bracket clashes. Dignitas, consisting of more Swedish legends, were able to defeat Nordavind for a spot in the Minor. BIG could not do the same versus Movistar Riders, which means no Rio beach visits for Johannes “tabseN” Wodarz and crew.
GODSENT upset OG in the lower bracket and denied the superteam in the making its first Minor appearance. GODSENT were sent to the losers’ side by Complexity – another international mixture tipped for big things.
Heroic suffered the same fate as BIG Clan. The Danish squad first lost in the winners’ bracket to Heretics and followed that up with another defeat, to countrymen Copenhagen Flames.
That concludes the eight-team list for the ESL One Rio Europe Minor, which looks like this:
- Fnatic
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Complexity Gaming
- Team Heretics
- Dignitas
- GODSENT
- Movistar Riders
- Copenhagen Flames
The ESL One Rio Europe Minor will be played between April 26 and May 2. The top two teams advance to the New Challengers stage of the Major. Whoever finishes third will proceed to the 3rd Place Play-In.
