The Pioneers and AZIO charge to the ZOTAC Cup Masters Closed Qualifier
The ZOTAC Cup Masters Open Qualifier #3 concluded yesterday, with The Pioneers and AZIO reaching the final, securing their spots in June's Closed Qualifiers.
The top half of the bracket saw The Pioneers sail through their opponents, helped with a bye in the first round. With no real sweat forming on their brows, their final match of the qualifier, and only best-of-three, saw them take on Stormborn which concluded in a simple 2-0 to take the first spot.
The other half of the bracket saw AZIO battle their way to the qualifier. Helped off with a bye in round one, they pushed past Xcel and PURE to line up their best-of-three match with Hysteria. A 2-1 scoreline was all they needed to secure a spot in the closed qualifier.
The top eight placings for the ZOTAC Cup Masters Open Qualifier #3 were:
1st-2nd: 
The Pioneers (MAKKA, CONNOR93, GRAMPZ, Oderus, tweiss)
1st-2nd: AZIO (seziwana, shonk, 1west, Mauisnake, tryhard)
3rd: Stormborns (bzkA, KRACKET, vicX, ColiNNNN, Enfohip)
4th: Hysteria (dangle, Mundle, RenZ, nani, knarf)
5th-8th: The Onliners (halterN, impact, in0x, input-, stxyz)
5th-8th: PURE (caJ^-^, Ahora, Joebotz, huskie, f0WL)
5th-8th: 
LeTrainTiltant (gijom, ziD-dA-kinG, S4MSK1, Extremerz, Vinyl-)
5th-8th: EX CINERE (Draggio, Bunny, raid, FLASHBANG, insane)
The top 8 teams are also notable because it features notable Dust2.us Western Pro League player, Theordor "in0x" Bjornsson for The Onliners. If you fancy playing him sometime soon, jump into the Dust2.us Western Pro League on FACEIT today.
The full bracket for the third qualifier is available on Battlefy, here.
The final ZOTAC Cup Masters Open Qualifier is set to commence on May 25th, with sign-ups currently open.
The current teams taking part in the closed qualifier are as follows:
| TBD |
 Bravado |
| compLexity |
eUnited |
| Ghost |
Rogue |
| ex-Splyce |
Swole Patrol |
| F1-racecar-PEEK |
Gorilla Gang |
 oNe |
STRYKER |
| The Pioneers |
AZIO |
| Qualifier 4 |
Qualifier 4 |
Since the qualifiers were announced, Armada have disbanded and are no longer a team. Their replacement in the ZOTAC tournament is yet to be confirmed. In the time between now and Qualifier #3, Nick "N4j" Norman's team LuX were picked up by STRYKER.
