Test Takers and Old Guys Club through to Americas Minor Closed Qualifier
Day two of the final Americas Minor open qualifier has come to a close, securing the final two teams that will compete next month for six of the eight spots in the Americas Minor in Katowice. With upsets knocking out MDL favorites such as Vireo.pro and Blight, Test Takers and Old Guys Club were able to make their way through the final rounds of the playoffs bracket.
The quarterfinal matches of the qualifier were all swift, with none of the four losing teams reaching double-digits. The Old Guys Club continued to shine during their clash with Hysteria. Sean "seang@res" Gares stomped Hysteria on Inferno, leading the squad to a 16-5 win, moving them onto the semifinals. The next quarterfinal match down saw a clean win for LiviD against Forty Six and 2, with the Canadian squad stomping the Mexican-American team on Mirage, handily taking the map 16-3 and moving them to semifinals, where they were set to take on Old Guys Club.
On the other end of the bracket, the third quarterfinals match featured Tyson "TenZ" Ngo leading the Test Takers to a strong 16-4 result on Mirage against the Dogs of War, despite Calvin "becker" Becker's efforts to fail the testers. In the final quarterfinal, Brandon "fluxvx" Banda and Nick "alter" Jackson of the boyz took down the APE GANG, with Jake "kaboose" McDonald's team moving on to the semifinal, where they would contest the final minor closed qualifier spot against Test Takers.
With the bracket reaching its last round, the best-of-three matches began with the Advanced squad LiviD taking on the Old Guys Club. Michael "miLLe" St-Pierre and co. took the initial lead, lividly swiping the first four rounds of Mirage. Old Guys Club fired back on all cylinders, rolling through the next eight rounds and leading the Canadian squad 8-4. LiviD squeezed in one more round in the first half before Mike "shroud" Grzesiek closed the half 10-5. Both teams traded rounds in the second half, with the Old Guys Club eventually taking match point 15-8. While LiviD pulled through three more rounds in an effort to salvage the map, the old guys ultimately took their last round, taking the first map 16-11.
The Old Guys Club continued their strong performance on Inferno in the beginning of the first half, going up 6-4. With the situation looking dire, LiviD stringed together the last remaining rounds of the first half, usurping the lead 9-6, and taking the first two rounds of the second half. Despite Anthony "gMd" Guimond and Abdo "c4lypso" Agha's newfound upper hand, Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert rolled through LiviD in the second half, pulling the Old Guys Club through the second map 16-13, and taking the series 2-0, qualifying them for the Minor closed qualifier.
LiViDOld Guys Club| LiViD |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Anthony 'gMd' Guimond |
45 - 43 | +2 | 87.7 | 69.6% | 1.09 |
| Abdo 'c4Lypso' Agha |
39 - 40 | -1 | 74.3 | 69.6% | 1.04 |
| Michael 'miLLe' St-Pierre |
36 - 33 | +3 | 63.9 | 66.1% | 1.02 |
| Danny 'huynh' Huynh |
32 - 39 | -7 | 69.0 | 66.1% | 0.89 |
| Samuel 'smL' Bertrand |
19 - 40 | -21 | 49.5 | 60.7% | 0.63 |
| Old Guys Club |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jordan 'n0thing' Gilbert |
52 - 37 | +15 | 98.9 | 76.8% | 1.44 |
| Mike 'shroud' Grzesiek |
45 - 32 | +13 | 77.6 | 80.4% | 1.24 |
| Sean 'seang@res' Gares |
32 - 33 | -1 | 67.3 | 69.6% | 1.04 |
| Tyler 'Skadoodle' Latham |
35 - 28 | +7 | 59.9 | 73.2% | 1.04 |
| Samuel 'SileNt' Portillo |
31 - 43 | -12 | 65.5 | 64.3% | 0.91 |
In the other semifinal, the boyz and Test Takers were neck-and-neck, with both mixes avidly seeking the final closed qualifier spot. The prospects were looking great for the boyz in the first half of Inferno, with Nick "alter" Jackson's team taking the early lead against the Test Takers. Jeff "REZU" Ngo and Tyson "TenZ" Ngo responded with a sharp curve, making their way through an arduous second half to push the game to its full thirty rounds in regulation and edge out the first map 16-14, over kaboose's squad.
On a morale high from their win, Test Takers took the first five rounds of Mirage and the early lead, but were cracked open by the boyz, who retaliated with six rounds, taking the lead by one round. Trading the last four rounds evenly, the boyz just barely came out on top at halftime with an 8-7 scoreline. Akin to their first map, Test Takers crammed round wins in the second half, with Matthew "no_one" Congdon pulling his team through yet another strenuous second half. With the map once again going the full distance, Test Takers came out on top 16-14, securing the series 2-0 and promoting themselves to the Americas Minor closed qualifier.
the boyzTest Takers| the boyz |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon 'fluxvx' Banda |
42 - 43 | -1 | 82.0 | 73.3% | 1.07 |
| Nick 'alter' Jackson |
46 - 43 | +3 | 83.1 | 66.7% | 1.05 |
| Austin 'crashies' Roberts |
42 - 45 | -3 | 75.0 | 68.3% | 1.02 |
| Tyler 'TheDudeAbides' Statia |
31 - 41 | -10 | 58.8 | 65.0% | 0.88 |
| Jake 'kaboose' McDonald |
34 - 47 | -13 | 66.5 | 51.7% | 0.83 |
| Test Takers |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeff 'RZU' Ngo |
47 - 38 | +9 | 84.9 | 78.3% | 1.27 |
| Tyson 'TenZ' Ngo |
50 - 42 | +8 | 88.5 | 73.3% | 1.23 |
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
41 - 38 | +3 | 76.0 | 70.0% | 1.12 |
| Dylan 'RIKO' Sabin-Arnce |
37 - 39 | -2 | 71.3 | 75.0% | 1.09 |
| Matthew 'no_one' Congdon |
44 - 39 | +5 | 74.9 | 73.3% | 1.08 |
With all four open qualifiers now over, the final team list for the Americas Minor Closed Qualifier is:
| Envy |
eUnited |
| Ghost |
 Luminosity |
| NRG |
Rogue |
| Spacestation |
Swole Patrol |
| FURIA |
Singularity |
| Mythic |
oNe |
 Bravado |
iNTACT |
| Old Guys Club |
Test Takers |
