StarLadder Fall NA Closed Qualifier invites revealed

StarLadder has officially announced the eight teams invited to the North American Closed Qualifier for their StarSeries Fall 2026 event. The online qualifier will run from July 28th to August 2nd. Based on the listed teams, the only ones to decline their invites were M80, Wildcard, and Liquid.

The three teams that declined likely did so because of a potential overlap with BLAST Bounty Summer 2026. Though the online portion of the event ends by July 26th, the LAN portion runs at almost the same time. As the LAN will be in Malta, the teams will not be able to play an online qualifier in NA.

As for the teams that did accept, it's a solid-looking list overall. NRG are the clear standout as the only ones with significant tier-one LAN experience, but other teams like Marsborne, Voca, and Chicken Coop have shown decent form as well.

One of the invited teams, SportsBetExpert, have a unique situation on their hands. Their #11 spot on the July VRS earned them an invite that they ostensibly accepted, but the team no longer has that core of players with the departures of Adam "WolfY" Andersson, Ian "motm" Hardy, and Derek "dare" Brown.

They could lose their invite, potentially taking the qualifier down to seven teams or opening the spot to Zomblers, who are next in line. They could also choose to field WolfY or motm as a stand-in to retain the spot.

The team list for the BLAST Open Porto NA Closed Qualifier consists of:

The StarLadder StarSeries Fall NA Qualifier will begin on July 28th.