The European Minor recently finished, and two more teams from the eastern side of the pond are set to attend the Boston Major Qualifier from Jan. 12 to 15.
Team Envy and Space Soldiers solidified their slots at the ELEAGUE Major Qualifier by overcoming an eight team bracket consisting of big name squads, such as GODSENT and OpTic Gaming. This is the second straight major that both OpTic and GODSENT will miss, as the last major they qualified for was the ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta last January.
Related: GODSENT eliminated from European Minor in opening group stage
Space Soldiers made a great winners bracket run after going 2-1 in the group stage, defeating both Envy and OpTic 2-1 in the semifinals and winners final, respectively. The upcoming underdogs from Turkey trumped OpTic in a double-overtime thriller on map three Mirage 22-20 to send them to the losers bracket. SS would later attain the No. 1 seed at the Major Qualifier by sweeping Envy again in the grand finals of the minor on Cobblestone and Inferno.
Envy found their way to a Major Qualifier spot by making a long losers bracket run after tough losses to SS on Inferno and Cache. They knocked out AGO Gaming—who eliminated GODSENT in the group stage—and OpTic Gaming to force a rematch against SS in the grand finals, which they lost. Envy’s win over OpTic essentially gave them the No. 2 European seed for the Offline Qualifier.
SS and Envy join a stacked list of teams at the Major Qualifier, where they’ll compete among 14 other teams for a spot in the major—Cloud9, FlipSid3 Tactics, G2 Esports, Natus Vincere, Mousesports, FaZe Clan, Vega Squadron, former PENTA Sports, Avangar, Quantum Bellator Fire, Renegades, and TyLoo.
The Americas Minor will round out the team list later today, when all 16 teams will be determined for the ELEAGUE Major: Boston Main Qualifier.
