The third open qualifier for the Europe Minor has reached its conclusion, with Valiance and x-kom progressing to the closed stage.
LeftOut, Tempo Storm and Tricked were among the notable teams who crashed out on day one of the qualifier, featuring over 200 teams from across the continent.
The tournament will soon enter its best-of-three stages, with the quarter-finals featuring a mouth-watering clash between the new Valiance roster and Vitality, who had to work hard to fend off the challenge of mix team cats in the fourth round.
EspiranTo's Valiance progress to the closed qualifier
The top two sides of the qualifier will progress to a closed stage, joining eight invitees and six other qualified teams in another qualifier, from which the top eight will seal passage to the Minor.
We will continue to update this article with the latest developments, but all matches can be followed live via the tournament page. The complete bracket can be found on ESEA's website.
Day two recap
23:18 Valiance, x-kom through
The new Valiance roster breezed past expert 2-0, while x-kom had to work hard to defeat Red Reserve 2-1 in the semi-final stage. The two teams will now progress to the closed qualifier, in which they will be joined by eight invitees and by six other qualified teams.
The final two contestants will be determined by the fourth open qualifier, scheduled for November 24-25.
19:18 AGO, Vitality eliminated in quarter-finals
The last best-of-one round of the qualifier is now behind us with a few surprising results as AGO were stunned by expert, while Vitality were defeated by Valiance in overtime. The tournament will now enter the semi-finals, featuring a best-of-three format, with the match-ups looking as follows:
expert vs. Valiance x-kom vs. Red Reserve
Day one recap
00:30 - Eight teams remain in the qualifier
LeftOut, Epsilon and ALTERNATE aTTaX were some of the teams who crashed out of the qualifier in the Round of 16. The match-ups for the quarter-finals, the last stage to feature a best-of-one format, are the following:
AGO vs. expert Valiance vs. Vitality Chaos vs. x-kom BRZINA vs. Red Reserve
22:43 - The top 16 teams are determined
You can follow the rest of the tournament on the tournament page. The top 16 teams are:
AGO MAD Lions x6tence Galaxy LeftOut Valiance SJ Vitality ALTERNATE aTTaX Chaos x-kom fightclub BRZINA Epsilon EURONICS Red Reserve expert
Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt dropped a 30-bomb to help Vitality recover from a 7-14 deficit and beat mix team cats 16-14 on Mirage. Below are some of the most interesting match-ups of the fourth round of the qualifier:
x-kom vs. PACT - twitch.tv/esl_csgob_pl LeftOut vs. Copenhagen Flames - mixer.com/IEMKatowiceCSGO Epsilon vs. Nordavind Vitality vs. tradigt - twitch.tv/csruhub2, twitch.tv/esl_csgo_fr2 x6tence Galaxy vs. Wizards- twitch.tv/esl_csgob_es AGO vs. PANTHERS - twitch.tv/esl_99damage1
20:33 - Vitality in trouble, first matches are over
Vitality are currently down 3-8 against mix team cats in one of the standout matches of the third round. Below you can find some of the first results:
Second seed Red Reserve have signed up for the qualifier with two stand-ins, Jack "Jackinho" Ström Mattsson and Denis "grux" Gutaj, in lieu of Alfred "RuStY" Karlsson and Fredrik "freddieb" Buö.
RuStY is currently in Taiwan competing with Flow at iESF, while the reason for freddieb's absence remains unclear. The Swedish team will take part in the qualifier with:
William "draken" Sundin Joakim "disco doplan" Gidetun Hampus "hampus" Poser Jack "Jackinho" Ström Mattsson Denis "grux" Gutaj
18:55 - Round 2 starts
The second round of matches, already featuring the big teams, is about to start. You can follow the action by clicking the links below:
cats vs. needmoreDM- mixer.com/IEMKatowiceCSGO LeftOut vs. tZEN- twitch.tv/csruhub2
18:51 - cats enter again
The mix-team "cats", which made the top 16 last time, will be in attendance again, this time with the lineup of Kristjan "fejtZ" Allsaar, Eimantas "pounh" Lazickas, Krzysztof "stark" Lewandrowski, Juho "juho" Lampinen, and Mihkel "sperr" Alamaa