Bravado and very different ex-Velocity headline third Americas Minor North America Open Qualifier
The third North America open qualifier for the Americas IEM Katowice 2019 Minor commenced yesterday, with the tournament reaching the round-of-16 before breaking for the night. The number of competitors for this qualifier totaled 71.
A number of MDL teams weren't in attendance this time around, either due to already qualifying (in the case of Swole Patrol, Singularity, Mythic and oNe), clashing events (Vireo.pro and Excelerate) or just not signing up (Think Outside the Box, cantwinalan and Old Guy's Club). Test Takers' absence appears to be explained through the team falling apart, with Dylan "RIKO" Sabin-Arnce announcing that he is to announce news about his future in the coming week, and two of the three players looking to rebuild alongside Josh "shinobi" Abastado.
The eight quarterfinal teams had varying paths to their spot. Bravado, going for a third attempt at reaching the closed qualifier stage, secured a quarterfinal spot through a 16-4 Nuke win over BurntStyle, a 16-1 Inferno win over Aranea and a 16-3 win on Inferno over Conqueror. The next team through were Main squad lightwork, who got to the round-of-eight after a forfeit win in the first round, a 16-12 Inferno win over Phenom and a 16-7 win against Vikings.
Advanced team Grizzlys were next up, taking a 16-0 Overpass win over Brock, a close 16-14 Train win over Born and taking down Mexican MDL team Forty Six & Two 16-12 on Overpass. Next through were a vastly different ex-Velocity, who played with just Austin "RenZ" Dickman from their league campaign. With a sizeable roster to choose from, he played alongside Alex "aproto" Protopapas from Vision, the currently teamless Ian "motm" Hardy, Damian "droid" Boulware from Final Feature and Aleksandar "ALEKSANDAR" Hinojosa from Guerilla Tactics.
The new ex-Velocity secured their spot after a 16-9 Inferno win over anti social social club, a 16-11 Cache victory against seven floppys and a 19-16 Cache overtime win against (technical) divisional rivals Blight.
The next two through were Hot Ass, headed by Alex "vek" Voynov, who qualified through a 16-8 Cache win against 0penp0ggers, a 16-14 Inferno win against On The Run before a strong 16-5 Train victory over the Colombians of VAULT. Next through were iNTACT, who got there through a 16-6 Inferno victory over BUG BROTHER, a 16-7 Dust 2 victory against Toxic before a 16-10 Inferno win against Advanced rivals Dogs of War.
The penultimate team through were 4US, after a 16-2 Overpass win against Dreamboat, a 16-2 win on Train against Witch-King Ocklet and an overtime 19-15 win on Dust2 against 5 lurk supports. The final team in were Steam Rollers, who secured a 16-0 win on Mirage against miNA, a 16-1 win against Pocketglobe and a 16-10 Mirage win against MDL team Infamous.
The matchups for the quarterfinals of the third qualifier are as follows:
 Bravado |
vs. |  lightwork |
| ex-Velocity |
vs. |  Grizzlys |
| iNTACT |
vs. | Hot Ass |
| 4US |
vs. | Steam Rollers |
Play continues later today, at 7 PM EST, from which the qualifier will continue until conclusion. The top two teams from the qualifier will join the current 12 teams in the North America closed qualifier.
