W7M, paiN advance to ESL One Rio Americas Minor South America Closed Qualifier
The first South America open qualifier bracket for the ESL One Rio Major Americas Minor has concluded, seeing W7M and paiN prevail to earn spots in the closed stage of the event.
97 teams took part in the bracket, with the majority of favorites surviving through to the quarterfinal round. Redemption POA was the only team out of the eight top seeds to not make it through, falling to Bravos in the round of 16.
The top-eight stage saw W7M narrowly edge out a 19-16 victory over Keyd, with Lincoln "fnx" Lau's RED Canids surviving a similarly close affair against the upset squad of Bravos with a 16-14 win on Nuke. oNe, who were fielding Matheus "prt" Scuvero following the departure of João "felps" Vasconcellos last week, were unsuccessful in their bid against Imperial as they fell 11-16, while paiN made short work of Alma by securing a 16-8 victory to assure a semifinal appearance for themselves.
Rinaldo "ableJ" Moda Junior's loan from FURIA paid off for W7M, who went up against RED Canids in the first semifinal matchup for a spot in the Closed Qualifier. An 8-7 half on Dust2 quickly gave way to a 16-9 map victory for W7M to kick off the series, but fnx and company were able to reply on W7M's pick of Train with a 16-7 scoreline of their own. W7M were unrelenting as Nuke got underway however, making short work of RED Canids as they put up a stalwart defense to take the map 16-1.
W7MRED Canids| W7M |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
53 - 42 | +11 | 79.2 | 80.0% | 1.24 |
| Felipe 'skullz' Medeiros |
50 - 40 | +10 | 82.9 | 75.4% | 1.18 |
| Fillipe 'pancc' Martins |
48 - 50 | -2 | 88.3 | 70.8% | 1.10 |
| Antonio 'realz1n' Oliveira |
43 - 41 | +2 | 73.0 | 72.3% | 1.06 |
| Rafael 'raafa' Lima |
44 - 43 | +1 | 69.6 | 66.2% | 1.03 |
| RED Canids |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln 'fnx' Lau |
54 - 51 | +3 | 93.4 | 72.3% | 1.19 |
| Gabriel 'nython' Lino |
51 - 49 | +2 | 78.6 | 69.2% | 1.15 |
| Bruno 'latto' Rebelatto |
46 - 47 | -1 | 78.8 | 75.4% | 1.10 |
| Lucas 'destiny' Bullo |
37 - 45 | -8 | 62.6 | 61.5% | 0.87 |
| Renato 'nak' Nakano |
28 - 46 | -18 | 48.7 | 67.7% | 0.69 |
Meanwhile, paiN went up against Gustavo "SHOOWTiME" Gonçalves' Imperial on the opposite side of the bracket, kicking off on Train. A 9-6 lead at the end of their CT-side effort allowed for paiN to maintain firm control on the map, with four of their players ending with over 20 kills to help take a 16-11 victory.
The second map of the series unfolded much the same, although this time Imperial managed to keep themselves within one round at halftime. The side swap proved to be the killing blow however, with paiN stabilizing on their own map pick to grab a second 16-11 victory and earn a spot in the closed stage of the qualifier circuit.
ImperialpaiN| Imperial |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dener 'KHTEX' Barchfield |
36 - 39 | -3 | 76.5 | 70.4% | 1.01 |
| Denis 'dzt' Fischer |
37 - 41 | -4 | 74.5 | 68.5% | 0.96 |
| Caio 'zqkS' Fonseca |
32 - 37 | -5 | 62.8 | 63.0% | 0.92 |
| Gustavo 'SHOOWTiME' Gonçalves |
35 - 41 | -6 | 74.3 | 66.7% | 0.91 |
| Felipe 'delboNi' Delboni |
27 - 38 | -11 | 51.7 | 55.6% | 0.72 |
| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
44 - 26 | +18 | 81.4 | 74.1% | 1.35 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
44 - 43 | +1 | 90.9 | 77.8% | 1.22 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
39 - 34 | +5 | 78.5 | 70.4% | 1.09 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
39 - 36 | +3 | 74.4 | 68.5% | 1.06 |
| Paulo 'land1n' Felipe |
29 - 28 | +1 | 56.8 | 72.2% | 1.04 |
The team list for the ESL One Rio Americas Minor South America Closed Qualifier now looks as follows:
| INTZ |
 Isurus |
| Sharks |
DETONA |
| W7M |
paiN |
 Open Qualifier #2 |
Open Qualifier #2 |
The second open qualifier for South America is set to run from February 14-15, with registration for teams remaining open on the ESEA event page. As always, signup links and dates for qualifiers and upcoming events can be found on the Dust2.us Calendar.
