Liquid and Complexity qualify for IEM Dallas

Day two of the IEM Dallas North American closed qualifier has come to a close, with Liquid and Complexity coming out on top as the dust settled. Although the two teams ultimately succeeded in qualifying for IEM Dallas, there were some bumps in the road en route to the event for both Liquid and Complexity.

For their opening games in the double-elimination bracket, Liquid and Complexity squared off against Gaimin Gladiators and Carpe Diem respectively. In both games, Liquid and Complexity easily dispatched their opponents, seeing the squads march on to the upper bracket semifinals. These matches would not be so easy, however, with Liquid tussling with domestic rival Evil Geniuses and Complexity matching up against GODSENT.

Liquid stumbled early on in their game against Evil Geniuses, as Jake "Stewie2K" Yip's men secured their pick of Overpass with ease, 16-8. Thankfully for Liquid, Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski kicked it into high gear on the next two maps, posting 1.56 and 1.82 ratings on Vertigo and Mirage respectively to power Liquid to a series win.

Meanwhile, Complexity had issues of their own battling with GODSENT, as the Brazilians got off to a strong start by claiming their pick of Ancient 16-11. Complexity had a lifeline of their own in the form of Michael "Grim" Wince, who kept the team alive on the second map of Nuke thanks to a stellar 1.77 rating. Grim's star power led to Complexity edging out Nuke 19-16, taking the series to Inferno where the North American squad narrowly won 16-14 to avoid being sent to the lower bracket.

After overcoming their difficulties in the upper bracket semifinals, Liquid and Complexity faced off for the first IEM Dallas spot up for grabs in the upper bracket final. After a hotly contested first map of Overpass, which saw Liquid sneak away with the win 16-14, Liquid were able to quickly clean up the series on Ancient, thanks to another phenomenal showing from EliGE who posted a 1.80 rating to book Liquid their tickets to Dallas.

Complexity still had another shot to play on home turf though, as a rematch was slated in the lower bracket final between them and GODSENT. GODSENT made their way there after being sent to the lower bracket by Complexity earlier thanks to convincing victories over Party Astronauts and Evil Geniuses. Complexity got off to a strong start in this rematch, snagging GODSENT's pick of Ancient 16-7, a map that the Brazilians claimed in their previous matchup. GODSENT answered back by stealing away Complexity's pick of Vertigo, 16-12, to take the series to Inferno. There, Complexity got off to a stellar start, but nearly let their lead slip away from them a few times throughout the map. In the end, Complexity regained their composure to close out the map 16-10, securing their spot at IEM Dallas.

The end of the NA closed qualifier sees two teams join the ten invited teams at the main event. Running concurrently with the NA closed qualifier were the SA and OCE closed qualifiers, which saw Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo's Imperial squad come out on top in the former, while the Australian squad LookingForOrg claimed the spot available in the latter qualifier. The last two spots up for grabs will be filled by the upcoming EU closed qualifier, which features prominent teams like Outsiders, MOUZ, and FNATIC among others. That qualifier will run from May 2nd through May 4th.

The current list of teams attending IEM Dallas is:

IEM Dallas is still a ways off, with the event set to run from May 30th through June 5th, not long after the PGL Major Antwerp.