After a long day of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competition, five teams qualified for North America’s first ever major event today.
European teams G2 Esports, mousesports and Gambit Gaming, as well as North American squads Splyce and Team Liquid, qualified for the Major League Gaming Columbus major. They will be joined by three more teams after tomorrow’s games at the Nationwide Arena.
G2 Esports took down Flipsid3 Tactics in group A to make it in today, while mousesports defeated HellRaisers and Team YP yesterday in group B to secure their spot. Additionally, Splyce defeated Vexed Gaming today, and Gambit Gaming beat Renegades to secure their spots.
Team Liquid took down HellRaisers in the qualifier’s first best-of-three decider match, going 2-1 with victories on Cache and Dust 2—with the final game going 16-14 in favor of Liquid. That put them through to qualify for the major.
These five teams make 13 of the 16 to be confirmed for the event. Eight of the world’s top teams—Fnatic, Team EnVyUs, Astralis, Natus Vincere, FaZe Clan, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Virtus.Pro, and Luminosity Gaming—were invited to the event due to their incredible performances over the past few months.
The remaining three teams will be decided over three best-of-three series’ tomorrow. The first will be between Brazilian squad Tempo Storm and Ukrainian side Flipsid3 Tactics, while the second will put American squad Counter Logic Gaming against Polish team Vexed Gaming. The final best-of-three will have American team Cloud9 and Australian squad Renegades face off for the final spot.
Teams who are headed home after today are slightly surprising: HellRaisers, Team Dignitas, Selfless (formerly Enemy), and Team YP.
For now, the talent pool for North America’s first major Counter-Strike: Global Offensive championship looks insane. Underdogs Splyce and Gambit should make their groups interesting to watch, while teams like G2 Esports, mousesports, and Team Liquid will look to prove themselves as some of the best in the world.
Photo via DreamHack/Flickr (All rights reserved, used with permission)
