Party Astronauts and Carpe Diem reach IEM Dallas Closed Qualifier

The first of two IEM Dallas Open Qualifiers for the North American region has come to a close, seeing regional favorites Party Astronauts and Carpe Diem make their way to the IEM Dallas Closed Qualifier, where they will be joining prominent squads like Liquid and Complexity. Carpe Diem took care of ATK to secure their closed qualifier berth, while Party Astronauts struggled against Imperial to reach the next stage.

By and large, the bulk of this bracket was free of major upsets, though some squads certainly did not make it as far as they may have been expected to. Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz's BHOP, utilizing Cory "shutout" Frymark, fell in the third round at the hands of Hog Riders. The fourth round saw some additional big names get taken out, with oNe getting bested by the new-look ONET4P, while paiN struggled against Imperial.

All four quarterfinal matches were incredibly quick affairs, with the closest scoreline among the games being Carpe Diem's 16-5 win over Third Impact. Other quarterfinal results include ATK trouncing Unjustified, Party Astronauts blasting past ONET4P, and Imperial obliterating Omega.

Carpe Diem and ATK squared off for the first closed qualifier spot, and although Carpe Diem won, ATK certainly made them work for it. The first map of Inferno was dragged into overtime, and despite Jonathan "b0denmaster" Bodenmalm's heroic 1.36 rating, he was unable to prevent Carpe Diem from taking the map 19-17. Carpe Diem followed up this victory with a 16-12 win on Overpass, shutting down a strong comeback effort from ATK to move on to the closed qualifier.

On the opposite side of the bracket, Party Astronauts tussled with Damian "droid" Boulware's Imperial in a match that was far closer than many might have expected. The Astronauts started on the right foot, shutting out Imperial 16-6 on Mirage, but things slipped away from them on the next map, Nuke. In a brutal triple-overtime map, Imperial edged out the Astronauts 25-22 to take the series to the decider of Overpass. The close nature of the second map continued into the third, as Party Astronauts only barely came out on top 16-13 to lock in their place in the closed qualifier.

The current list of teams in the IEM Dallas Closed Qualifier is:

Teams still vying for a spot in the closed qualifier will have one last shot, with the first day of the second open qualifier set to take place later today. A variety of big names, including ATK, Gaimin Gladiators, and paiN are amongst those looking for one of the two remaining spots.