Last four ECS Season 5 Closed Qualifier participants found
The fourth and final ECS Season 5 North America Open Qualifier was held today, and all the participating teams knew this was their last chance to proceed to the Closed Qualifier.
At the end of the day, it was a triumvirate of MDL teams in LFAO, Iceberg and BlackOut who secured passage to the next stage, despite BlackOut fielding David "dee" Ngo instead of Tyson "TenZ" Ngo. Additionally, recent North American inhabitants oNe grabbed the fourth and final spot, after falling short in the third qualifier.
Falling short today were MDL sides Swole Patrol, Atmosphere and RONIN — with the latter using former CLG player Stephen "reltuC" Cutler instead of Jonathan "Jonji" Carey.
The standings for the top 16 of the qualifier were as follows:
1st-4th. 
Iceberg
1st-4th. 
oNe
1st-4th. LFAO
1st-4th. BlackOut
5th-8th. Blackwoodproductions
5th-8th. Swole Patrol
5th-8th. Poggers
5th-8th. BLNK
9th-16th. lololol
9th-16th. Mercenaries
9th-16th. iNTACT
9th-16th. RONIN
9th-16th. Chivalry
9th-16th. Runn
9th-16th. WMCID
9th-16th. 
Atmosphere
With the conclusion of the qualifier, the full participant list of the Closed Qualifier is as follows:
| 2K |
BlackOut |
 Bravado |
 compLexity |
| Dignitas |
Etherian |
F1-racecar-PEEK |
Iceberg |
| LFAO |
Mask Off |
Mythic |
Rise Nation |
| Rogue |
Splyce |
oNe |
Wise |
The ECS Season 5 Closed Qualifier for North America will run from February 16 to 18. Given the short timespan, a single-elimination bracket is expected. The top four teams from the Closed Qualifier will advance to the North America Challenger Cup, where they will be joined by two invited sides, and the bottom two squads from ECS Season 4.
Those bottom two sides would be Ghost and Immortals, however, as it seems unlikely that Immortals will field a roster, it is not known what will happen with the slot allocation.
