One North American team left alive in first IEM Chicago open qualifier
Day one of the first IEM Chicago open qualifier has concluded, seeing the initial pool of 27 teams reduced down to four. Chris and the boys are the only North American representation in semifinals, with ATK, INTZ, and Luminosity filling the remaining slots.
The most notable upset of the bracket came early on, with the new-look Envy roster claiming the top seed and a first round bye only to be eliminated by Grizzlys 16-12 in the round of 16. Grizzlys were sent packing themselves in the following round by Chris and the boys, who also took down Prospects on the road to their semifinal spot.
ATK had arguably the most difficult path through to day two, initially scraping a 16-13 win against a mixteam composed of Pujan "FNS" Mehta, Matt "Pollo" WIlson, Stephen "reltuC" Cutler, Leonardo "Laski" Arroyo, and Samuel "SileNt" Portillo.
The team seemed to bounce back as they took the first five rounds against oNe in their quarterfinal matchup, but a resurgence from the Brazilians saw ATK forced to pull off a comeback from a 6-12 deficit in the second half. With Johnny "JT" Theodosiou and Tyson "TenZ" Ngo leading the way, ATK gave up only one additional round on the road to a second 16-13 victory.
The opposite side of the bracket saw Luminosity ease their way into the quarterfinals, while their opponents, Polar Ace, were forced to fight their way past Andres "spamzzy1" Correa's Infinity. Although Polar Ace made short work of the Argentinian-Colombian squad, Luminosity proved to be far superior competition as the Brazilians dispatched of Polar Ace 16-6 to earn their own spot in the semifinals.
Luminosity's countrymen from INTZ had a similarly easy path to the top four, taking a first round bye before taking down Lowkey 16-9 in their second round matchup. Peeker's Advantage echoed the scoreline in their own round of 16 match against Thunder Logic, but found themselves sent packing by INTZ 16-11 in the quarterfinals.
The two semifinal matchups are set to play out tomorrow, awarding the winners with spots in the IEM Chicago Closed Qualifier. The two matches will play out back-to-back, with ATK going up against Chris and the boys at 6 PM EDT and INTZ taking on their Brazilian brethren from Luminosity at 9 PM EDT.
