New Identity, Peeker's Advantage, and nambla through to MSI MGA Closed Qualifier
The second MSI MGA open qualifier has come to an end, seeing a total of 47 teams participate.
Only three notable teams were sent packing early on in the bracket. ATK, who continue to field coach Tiaan "T.c" Coertzen, were swiftly dispatched of by Rugratz 16-7, while the Colombian side of Infinity eliminated imperial and Variance. A handful of Advanced teams, including Holo and Brazen, could also be seen among the competitors, although none managed to make it to the top eight.
Joshua "steel" Nissan also made an appearance as part of a mix-team under the tag "nambla", playing alongside familiar names such as William "RUSH" Wierzba, Tyler "tweiss" Weiss, and Jake "kaboose" McDonald. A solid run through the bracket saw steel and company drop just two rounds in their first two matchups combined, with a quarterfinal match against Party Astronauts also proving to be no challenge as nambla fought back from an 0-5 start on Nuke to take a 16-6 victory.
A semifinal matchup against Peeker's Advantage proved to be the stumbling block for steel's side as they fell 12-16 on Mirage, allowing Peeker's Advantage to secure a spot in the closed qualifier. Notably, Peeker's Advantage were playing the tournament with Stephen "reltuC" Cutler and steel's former teammate, Jason "neptune" Tran, in a bracket run that saw them narrowly edge past Rugratz 22-18 in the quarterfinals before defeating steel's side.
namblaPeeker's Advantage| nambla |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Marian 'tyfoon' Lesnic |
23 - 22 | +1 | 88.0 | 60.7% | 1.15 |
 William 'RUSH' Wierzba |
20 - 20 | +0 | 86.5 | 67.9% | 1.07 |
| Joshua 'steel' Nissan |
20 - 22 | -2 | 76.7 | 67.9% | 0.98 |
| Jake 'kaboose' McDonald |
18 - 20 | -2 | 64.4 | 64.3% | 0.83 |
| Tyler 'tweiss' Weiss |
11 - 20 | -9 | 46.7 | 60.7% | 0.66 |
| Peeker's Advantage |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taylor 'Drone' Johnson |
26 - 19 | +7 | 104.1 | 78.6% | 1.50 |
| Stephen 'reltuC' Cutler |
22 - 16 | +6 | 73.5 | 75.0% | 1.21 |
| Chad 'Oderus' Miller |
23 - 19 | +4 | 72.3 | 67.9% | 1.17 |
| Jason 'neptune' Tran |
18 - 20 | -2 | 88.4 | 64.3% | 1.02 |
| Daniel 'roca' Gustaferri |
15 - 18 | -3 | 63.4 | 64.3% | 0.88 |
On the top side of the bracket, Skyler "Relyks" Weaver and the rest of New Identity had little trouble dispatching of their opponents as they secured a spot in the quarterfinals against Jasper "sfX" Ko's x1 Mob having only dropped 6 rounds. sfX fared no better against the MDL roster as a 16-4 victory saw New Identity through to the semifinals, where a dominant 12-3 T-side half on Inferno against Thunder Logic allowed the team to eventually close out the map 16-12.
New IdentityThunder Logic| New Identity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collin 'wrath' McSweegan |
30 - 14 | +16 | 88.1 | 85.7% | 1.64 |
| Michael 'dapr' Gulino |
29 - 14 | +15 | 94.0 | 96.4% | 1.64 |
| Skyler 'Relyks' Weaver |
18 - 17 | +1 | 83.5 | 71.4% | 1.19 |
| Will 'dazzLe' Loafman |
17 - 20 | -3 | 76.7 | 60.7% | 0.93 |
| Sebastian 'seb' Bucki |
12 - 19 | -7 | 71.8 | 71.4% | 0.85 |
| Thunder Logic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
24 - 18 | +6 | 87.6 | 60.7% | 1.17 |
| Adam 'Ange' Milian |
17 - 19 | -2 | 62.7 | 67.9% | 0.97 |
 Amgalan 'genghsta' Nemekhbayar |
17 - 23 | -6 | 80.5 | 57.1% | 0.92 |
| Anhduy 'nguyen' Nguyen |
1 - 4 | -3 | 10.1 | 85.7% | 0.88 |
| Jet 'jet-' Gao |
13 - 23 | -10 | 59.8 | 60.7% | 0.77 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
12 - 19 | -7 | 43.0 | 64.3% | 0.72 |
Despite their loss to Peeker's Advantage, nambla were still awarded a spot in the closed qualifier as Thunder Logic had to compete in their MDL Season 31 Relegation match, granting steel and company a forfeit win in the third place decider. Thunder Logic and the rest of the eliminated teams will have one final chance to earn a spot in the closed qualifier, although just two spots will be up for grabs in the third open qualifier.
The team list for the MSI MGA 2019 Closed Qualifier now looks as follows:
| Envy |
Lazarus |
| Riot Squad |
New Identity |
| Peeker's Advantage |
nambla |
 Qualifier #3 |
Qualifier #3 |
Signups for the final open qualifier will remain open on the ESEA event page until 3 PM EDT on July 27th. As always, links and dates for upcoming qualifiers and events can be found on the Dust2.us Calendar.
