Forty Six and 2 and The Minorities make Advanced
The ESEA Advanced qualifier concluded tonight, with Forty Six and 2 and The Minorities earning spots in the division.
The Minorities were the first team to earn a spot in Advanced after besting SevenFold 2-1 following 16-11 and 16-10 victories on Inferno and Train. This will the first season of Advanced for the majority of the players on the team, with "CHRISBABY" being the sole player to have previous experience in the division. During Season 28, he played with Damn We Are Good, going 5-11 in the regular season.
The second team to earn a spot in Advanced is Forty Six and 2 who have returned to the league following their dissolution during the closing days of Season 30 MDL. While fielding the same roster the team sued from their previous Season 27 Open run, the Mexican team clinched their spot besting Moscow Five Yankees 16-3 and 16-13 on Inferno and Overpass.
Their entrance into the Advanced qualifier was not without controversy as following New England Whalers 14-16 loss to Forty Six and Two in the round-of-eight, the team's CEO took to Twitter to argue that is unfair that "a #MDL team of 3-seasons" is allowed to compete in the Advanced qualifier.
However, due to the team being marked dead at the end of Season 30, this iteration of Forty Six and Two is allowed under ESEA's rules to try and qualify for any division they please. Additionally, even if they weren’t marked dead they would still have ended up in Advanced regardless.
The rosters of the two qualified teams are as follow:
- Forty Six and Two (SpaydeRRR, Kobruh, stayfrosty, chuti, k1nky)
- The Minorities (Eptima, Feral, Florgy, CHRISBABY, amen)
The complete Advanced qualifier bracket can be found here.