Swole Patrol, INTZ, oNe and Bad News Bears to battle for IEM Sydney Closed Qualifier
The first day of the second IEM Sydney qualifier has concluded, and once again four teams remain for tonight's semifinals. 98 teams took part in the qualifier, and a number of big results occurred in the early rounds.
From the top of the bracket INTZ will be the first name in tonight's semifinal, having cruised through the bracket. Wins over Sneaky Snakes (16-10), MiUS (16-3) and Grizzlys (16-9) led them to a quarterfinal matchup against Singularity, where the Brazilians secured the win in a controlling fashion for a 16-10 scoreline. Their opponents in the semifinal will be Swole Patrol, whose equally speedy tournament run began with a 16-9 victory over Zepheria followed by quick wins over Damn We Are BACK (16-4) and The Fundamentals (16-8) before facing MASSIVEimpact.
MASSIVEimpact had secured a small upset in the form of a 16-14 win over MDL leaders Spacestation in the previous round. A similar performance against ESL Pro League side Swole Patrol wouldn't come, as they were comfortably dispatched 16-2
The lower half of the bracket saw the Brazilians of oNe make a return to the semifinals, having notched wins over Cyclone (16-13), SevenFold (16-1) and Final Feature (16-4) before lining up against Denial. The South Africans, who were utilizing the services of Owen "smooya" Butterfield, proved to not be a match for their divisional rivals on this occasion, taking a heavy 16-2 loss to send them out of the qualifier.
The final team lining up in the semifinals will be Bad News Bears, who claimed arguably the largest scalp of the qualifier. Starting the bracket off with a win over SODMG (16-10), before a close match with Hysteria (16-14) and a demolition of iNTACT (16-5), they faced Rogue. Rogue had recently added Danish youngster Nikolaj "niko" Kristensen two days ago, and this move would be unable to help them into the final day's events as they sufferred a shock 16-10 loss. IGL Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen sent a borderline-arrogant Tweet after losing in the quarterfinal, to which Peter "ptr" Gurney sent a fiery response.
The qualification matches of the final IEM Sydney open qualifier are set to take place tonight. These matches, with times in EST, will be:
| 6:00 PM |  Swole Patrol vs.  INTZ |
BO3 |
| 9:00 PM | oNe vs. Bad News Bears |
BO3 |
