Final eight teams through to ESL One Europe Minor Championship

The ESL One Europe Minor Closed Qualifier came to an end on March 8 in which several high ranked teams were unable to secure a spot and will miss out on the first major of the year.

The Upper Bracket

The first day kicked off with the upper quarter-finals which saw NiP, Heretics, Fnatic, and Complexity take the first four spots. 

Dignitas encountered fellow Swedish team Fnatic in an all-out brawl, which saw the best-of-three have two overtimes in two separate maps. The series came to a close favoring Fnatic after a dominating 15-0 CT side on Overpass, leading to a 16-3 victory.

Heretics, led by French superstar Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey, had a surprising yet convincing performance taking down both Heroic and OG without dropping a map. This was one of the biggest upsets of the qualifier, Heretics being ranked #44 v.s Heroic at #14 and OG at #18. 

NiP had a slow start and seemed unsteady in their opening game against Apeks, but picked up their form winning 2-1 and advancing to the upper quarter-finals. They played against BIG who had come fresh from their victory at the FLASHPOINT Global Qualifier. This didn’t affect the Swedish side who closed out the series 2-0.

MAD Lions withdrew from the qualifier due to not being able to find a suitable roster after benching Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen. This paved the way for Complexity to be invited, as they failed to succeed in the open qualifiers. They showed great reform and secured a minor spot undefeated.

The Lower Bracket

The last day concluded with the lower-bracket matches which saw Dignitas, Movistar Riders, GODSENT, and Copenhagen Flames take the last four spots.

Heroic, after losing to Heretics, fell victim to another upset as they let fellow Danish underdog team, Copenhagen Flames, come out on top with a 2-0 victory.