FURIA, Lazarus, eUnited, and NRG advance to Americas Minor
A quartet of teams have earned a spot in the Americas Minor following the end of the second day of the StarLadder Major Americas Minor Closed Qualifier, while an additional four have been sent packing after losses in the lower bracket.
The start of the day saw eight teams fight for their tournament lives, with ATK first up to bat against Peeker's Advantage. Johnny "JT" Theodosiou and stand-in Spencer "Hiko" Martin were the primary catalysts in the South African squad's 2-1 victory over David "DAVEY" Stafford's side, with two close maps giving way to a dominant showing in the decider.
Inferno saw the two teams go blow-for-blow in the first half, with each side stringing together a series of rounds for an 8-7 scoreline in ATK's favor at the half. The battle continued into the second half, with neither team able to maintain a large lead over the other, leading to an overtime bout. There, ATK reigned supreme to take four straight rounds, with both Hiko and JT ending the map with 34 kills apiece.
A similar situation unfolded as Mirage got underway, although this time Taylor "Drone" Johnson and Daniel "roca" Gustaferri combined to keep their side in the running. Another 8-7 half saw Peeker's Advantage narrowly pull ahead, although an immediate reply from ATK in the second pistol round allowed for the South Africans to reclaim the lead at 9-8. Drone and co. were unrelenting however, managing to stabilize and grant their opponents just three additional rounds before closing out the map 16-12 to force the series to a decider.
Dust2 seemed set to repeat the first halves of Mirage and Inferno as ATK's 4-0 lead was narrowed to 4-3 by Peeker's Advantage at the start of the half, but this time ATK remained steadfast in their defense to win seven of the ensuing eight rounds for an 11-4 scoreline at the half. Another trio was added to the South African team's tally after they swapped sides, with Peeker's Advantage only managing to put another four rounds on the board before the series was closed out with a 16-8 victory by ATK.
Peeker's AdvantageATK| Peeker's Advantage |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Anthony 'gMd' Guimond |
59 - 60 | -1 | 77.1 | 73.3% | 1.05 |
 Chad 'Oderus' Miller |
58 - 59 | -1 | 64.5 | 64.0% | 0.98 |
| Taylor 'Drone' Johnson |
54 - 61 | -7 | 72.4 | 66.3% | 0.95 |
| Daniel 'roca' Gustaferri |
59 - 65 | -6 | 73.0 | 62.8% | 0.94 |
| David 'DAVEY' Stafford |
46 - 61 | -15 | 64.0 | 61.6% | 0.83 |
| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spencer 'Hiko' Martin |
68 - 44 | +24 | 80.3 | 75.6% | 1.27 |
 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
69 - 58 | +11 | 82.6 | 76.7% | 1.23 |
| Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
59 - 60 | -1 | 79.6 | 73.3% | 1.09 |
| Dominic 'Domsterr' Sampaio |
58 - 51 | +7 | 72.5 | 73.3% | 1.08 |
| Roberto 'blackpoisoN' Dall'Occo |
52 - 63 | -11 | 73.4 | 69.8% | 1.03 |
While ATK were busy with Peeker's Advantage, Envy were dealing with an MDL team of their own as they went up against Party Astronauts. Another three-map series saw Envy lose out on the opening map of Overpass before swiftly sweeping their way through Nuke and Train.
A 10-5 opening half on Overpass gave Party Astronauts firm control at the start of the series, with the team stringing together four additional rounds at the start of the second half for a 14-5 lead. Envy managed to add six rounds to their tally before Party Astronauts pulled the map over the finish line, opening up the series with a 16-11 victory on their own map pick.
The ensuing two maps were where Party Astronauts met their maker, with Envy putting up a formidable 9-6 T-side on Nuke before flawlessly cruising through their CT-side for a 16-6 victory. A stellar performance by Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue seemed to give Party Astronauts a second chance as Train got underway, with the team putting up a 6-1 lead to open up the map.
Envy quickly put those hopes to bed as an eight-round streak on the T-side allowed for them to pull ahead, with Party Astronauts mustering just two rounds at the start of the second half before their fate was sealed with a 16-8 scoreline.
Party AstronautsEnvy| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
63 - 47 | +16 | 87.1 | 68.5% | 1.30 |
| Ian 'motm' Hardy |
44 - 50 | -6 | 66.8 | 68.5% | 0.91 |
| Brenden 'stellar' McGrath |
40 - 55 | -15 | 69.9 | 61.6% | 0.87 |
| Robert 'robby' Brown |
44 - 55 | -11 | 57.8 | 65.8% | 0.80 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
34 - 53 | -19 | 62.0 | 60.3% | 0.71 |
| Envy |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacob 'FugLy' Medina |
62 - 46 | +16 | 91.7 | 79.5% | 1.34 |
| Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
58 - 44 | +14 | 80.2 | 67.1% | 1.27 |
| Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
53 - 46 | +7 | 81.9 | 74.0% | 1.19 |
| Bradley 'ANDROID' Fodor |
48 - 44 | +4 | 66.4 | 76.7% | 1.12 |
| Sam 's0m' Oh |
39 - 45 | -6 | 60.2 | 71.2% | 0.96 |
The most notable and shocking loss came in the second round of matches, with The Quest decisively sending Cloud9 packing with wins on Nuke and Mirage.
Opening up the series on the T-side of their own map pick, Nuke, The Quest were initially faced with an 0-2 start. A combined effort from Jack "xCeeD" Holiman and Gabe "Spongey" Greiner saw The Quest immediately seize back control of the map, winning nine rounds straight before Cloud9 broke the streak with one of their own.
The Quest added an additional two rounds to their tally for an 11-4 scoreline at the half, further extending their lead to 13-4 with a win in the second pistol round. Cloud9 managed a trio of rounds in reply but were only able to add one more to their tally before the map was closed out by The Quest 16-8.
The start of Mirage saw Cloud9 fare slightly better, losing out on the first two rounds before stabilizing for a 7-3 scoreline on the CT-side. Although Cloud9 remained ahead with an additional round at the end of the half, they were unable to contest The Quest's defense in the second half as they only won a string of three rounds, with xCeeD picking up four kills and winning a 1vs3 in the final round to eliminate the Major-winning organization from the Americas Minor Closed Qualifier.
The QuestCloud9| The Quest |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack 'xCeeD' Holiman |
49 - 36 | +13 | 111.8 | 78.4% | 1.58 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
38 - 32 | +6 | 77.6 | 78.4% | 1.20 |
| Gabe 'Spongey' Greiner |
39 - 31 | +8 | 78.9 | 72.5% | 1.20 |
| Ryan 'Snakes' Amann |
37 - 30 | +7 | 75.8 | 68.6% | 1.16 |
| Logan 'Voltage' Long |
24 - 27 | -3 | 50.3 | 68.6% | 0.89 |
| Cloud9 |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timothy 'autimatic' Ta |
35 - 34 | +1 | 65.5 | 66.7% | 1.01 |
| William 'RUSH' Wierzba |
34 - 40 | -6 | 80.1 | 72.5% | 0.99 |
| Daniel 'vice' Kim |
29 - 34 | -5 | 62.8 | 64.7% | 0.87 |
 Maikil 'Golden' Selim |
32 - 39 | -7 | 74.0 | 72.5% | 0.87 |
 René 'cajunb' Borg |
26 - 41 | -15 | 57.2 | 60.8% | 0.68 |
The final lower bracket matchup was between Bad News Bears and the stream team of Mythic, with Peter "ptr" Gurney and Mitch "mitch" Semago helping to lead their team to a pair of 16-13 wins on Overpass and Inferno.
The two maps played out in nearly identical fashion, with Bad News Bears putting up a 10-5 lead on the CT-side of Overpass to kick off the series. Mythic attempted to fight back as they won eight of the first ten rounds in the second half, but renewed efforts from both ptr and mitch allowed for Bad News Bears to take the map over the line with a 16-13 victory.
Much like on Overpass, Bad News Bears took an early lead on Inferno, this time powered primarily by ptr and his AWP. Another 10-5 half saw Bad News Bears firmly take control of the map, but yet again Mythic were able to claw their way back following the side swap to narrow the deficit and tie up the match at 13-13. A final trio of rounds sealed the deal for Bad News Bears, with the team edging out a second 16-13 victory to send Mythic packing and advance to the third day of the qualifier.
Bad News BearsMythic| Bad News Bears |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter 'ptr' Gurney |
54 - 25 | +29 | 100.5 | 84.5% | 1.66 |
| Mitch 'mitch' Semago |
54 - 41 | +13 | 96.4 | 75.9% | 1.35 |
| Josh 'shinobi' Abastado |
33 - 39 | -6 | 62.3 | 75.9% | 0.94 |
| Austin 'crashies' Roberts |
35 - 38 | -3 | 63.4 | 65.5% | 0.91 |
| Jeff 'RZU' Ngo |
35 - 40 | -5 | 66.3 | 67.2% | 0.88 |
| Mythic |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donovan 'zNf' Froid |
44 - 42 | +2 | 78.1 | 70.7% | 1.07 |
| Corbin 'C0M' Lee |
47 - 45 | +2 | 87.3 | 62.1% | 1.06 |
| Erik 'fl0m' Flom |
40 - 39 | +1 | 66.4 | 74.1% | 0.99 |
| James 'hazed' Cobb |
25 - 45 | -20 | 64.9 | 65.5% | 0.81 |
| Adam 'Polen' Polen |
27 - 40 | -13 | 59.9 | 62.1% | 0.79 |
The first matchup of the upper bracket was an all-Brazilian bout between FURIA and oNe. Nuke started off with oNe picking up the first two rounds of the half but immediately afterwards, FURIA got off to a dominant start by claiming twelve out the next thirteen rounds to close out the half 12-3. After switching sides, FURIA were able to neatly close out Nuke by winning the next four rounds in a row to take the map 16-3. On Overpass, it looked as if FURIA would close out the map in the same dominant fashion as they claimed a 12-3 half on their CT-side. Upon switching sides, oNe began a massive comeback on their CT-side that saw Bruno "bit" Lima lead the way as oNe claimed ten out of the next twelve rounds. However, in the last rounds of regulation, FURIA were able to come together and find the two rounds they needed to close out Overpass 16-13.
FURIATeamOne| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
51 - 26 | +25 | 105.4 | 77.1% | 1.53 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
39 - 35 | +4 | 84.9 | 70.8% | 1.31 |
| Rinaldo 'ableJ' Moda Junior |
29 - 25 | +4 | 56.3 | 79.2% | 1.03 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
28 - 28 | +0 | 69.1 | 70.8% | 1.00 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
27 - 32 | -5 | 71.2 | 66.7% | 0.95 |
| TeamOne |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima |
35 - 34 | +1 | 88.4 | 68.8% | 1.06 |
| Victor 'iDk' Torraca |
33 - 35 | -2 | 65.1 | 64.6% | 0.86 |
| Alencar 'trk' Rossato |
25 - 36 | -11 | 68.8 | 60.4% | 0.83 |
| Bruno 'b4rtiN' Câmara |
24 - 34 | -10 | 57.2 | 70.8% | 0.82 |
| Pedro 'Maluk3' Campos |
29 - 35 | -6 | 62.5 | 58.3% | 0.80 |
While the Brazilian battle was going on Lazarus were also dealing with a Brazilian team of their own as they faced off against Luminosity on Dust2, Mirage, and Inferno. Starting off on Dust2, Lazarus got off to a commanding lead as they claimed five out of the first six rounds off the back of a T-side pistol victory. After this Luminosity found five rounds of their own to nearly tie things off before the two teams ended the half in a dead heat with Lazarus leading 8-7.
Luminosity started off the second half on their T-side by retaking the lead with four rounds in a row before Lazarus were able to answer back with a round of their own. The two sides continued to trade rounds before Lazarus narrowly took the 16-14 win by finding the last four rounds in a row. Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro kept Lazarus in the map with a 1.36 rating and 26 frags.
Moving onto Dust2, after the extremely close opening half on Mirage, Luminosity returned in dominant form, closing out their CT-side with a large 11-4 lead. After swapping sides, Lazarus began to claw their way back into Mirage as they opened the half with four rounds to close the gap 11-8. However, Lazarus were never able to take the lead on Mirage as a strong performance from Henrique "HEN1" Teles allowed Luminosity to maintain their lead and close out Mirage 16-13.
On the third and final map, Lazarus took their turn to be in the lead as after claiming the first six rounds in a row on their T-side, they would go on to close the half with a 10-5 lead. Luminosity were not ready to capitulate though as they found four rounds in a row to nearly tie things up 9-10. In the end though, they never had a chance to completely close the gap as Lazarus claimed six out of the next seven rounds to close out Inferno 16-10.
LuminosityLazarus| Luminosity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henrique 'HEN1' Teles |
60 - 47 | +13 | 72.7 | 67.9% | 1.10 |
| Lucas 'LUCAS1' Teles |
54 - 58 | -4 | 72.6 | 65.5% | 1.00 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
47 - 60 | -13 | 68.2 | 67.9% | 0.89 |
| Ricardo 'boltz' Prass |
48 - 59 | -11 | 68.5 | 65.5% | 0.88 |
| Lucas 'steel' Lopes |
43 - 58 | -15 | 64.3 | 60.7% | 0.78 |
| Lazarus |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yassine 'Subroza' Taoufik |
64 - 47 | +17 | 77.9 | 81.0% | 1.26 |
| Gage 'Infinite' Green |
63 - 51 | +12 | 81.7 | 76.2% | 1.22 |
| Tyson 'TenZ' Ngo |
57 - 48 | +9 | 67.9 | 75.0% | 1.12 |
| Jordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro |
50 - 55 | -5 | 63.3 | 70.2% | 1.03 |
| Pujan 'FNS' Mehta |
48 - 52 | -4 | 69.3 | 65.5% | 0.93 |
The next matchup between New Identity and eUnited was less hotly contested as eUnited pulled off a 2-0 victory over New Identity on Mirage and Dust2. Starting on Mirage, eUnited were able to get off to a strong start as they closed out the opening half with a large 11-4 lead. After switching sides, New Identity managed to find three rounds though eUnited immediately afterwards closed out the map with five rounds of their own.
Moving onto Dust2, New Identity were able to contest eUnited far better than on Mirage, preventing the EPL team from finding double digits, though in the end eUnited still ended the half with a 9-6 lead. On their T-side eUnited would further entrench their lead as they took the opening four rounds, before New Identity claimed three of their own. In the end though, eUnited claimed victory on Dust2 as they out skilled and outpaced New Identity with a 16-12 scoreline.
eUnitedNew Identity| eUnited |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaleb 'moose' Jayne |
45 - 28 | +17 | 91.9 | 73.1% | 1.37 |
| Austin 'Cooper' Abadir |
44 - 33 | +11 | 83.5 | 69.2% | 1.28 |
 Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
38 - 31 | +7 | 80.2 | 67.3% | 1.17 |
| Victor 'food' Wong |
42 - 36 | +6 | 82.0 | 78.8% | 1.13 |
| Anthony 'vanity' Malaspina |
15 - 37 | -22 | 41.6 | 69.2% | 0.69 |
| New Identity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skyler 'Relyks' Weaver |
40 - 31 | +9 | 75.2 | 69.2% | 1.21 |
| Collin 'wrath' McSweegan |
39 - 38 | +1 | 73.2 | 75.0% | 1.03 |
| Sebastian 'seb' Bucki |
32 - 37 | -5 | 75.8 | 65.4% | 0.91 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
25 - 38 | -13 | 64.1 | 57.7% | 0.84 |
| Will 'dazzLe' Loafman |
28 - 40 | -12 | 59.6 | 51.9% | 0.76 |
The final matchup of the day involved NRG and Singularity, with two teams keen to take the final upper bracket Minor spot. Starting on Train, NRG went in guns blazing as they decimated Singularity's CT-side to close out the half with a massive 12-3 lead. After this, NRG would close out the map with no trouble as they claimed the next four rounds. During Train, Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte was especially potent with a 26-5 K-D ratio and a 2.18 rating.
With Singularity already on the ropes, they surprised NRG by claiming a 9-6 lead following a strong CT performance on Nuke. Following this, they transitioned onto an even more surprising T-side as they battered NRG's defense to close out Nuke 16-7, only allowing NRG a single CT round.
After showing what they could do on Nuke, Singularity unfortunately stumbled on Mirage as NRG returned the favor by battering them with a 12-3 CT-side. After this, Singularity would manage to claim two rounds on their CT-side though it mattered little as NRG took Mirage with a 16-5 victory. During this final map, Brehze showed up once more with 103.2 ADR and a 1.70 rating.
SingularityNRG| Singularity |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alan 'Shakezullah' Hardeman |
40 - 44 | -4 | 69.7 | 69.8% | 0.95 |
| Cameron 'cam' Kern |
40 - 45 | -5 | 66.9 | 61.9% | 0.90 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
37 - 47 | -10 | 66.2 | 63.5% | 0.87 |
| Ricky 'floppy' Kemery |
37 - 49 | -12 | 67.0 | 58.7% | 0.77 |
| Ryan 'ryann' Welsh |
25 - 51 | -26 | 52.9 | 50.8% | 0.58 |
| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
62 - 33 | +29 | 94.1 | 82.5% | 1.55 |
| Ethan 'Ethan' Arnold |
51 - 38 | +13 | 80.9 | 69.8% | 1.28 |
| Tarik 'tarik' Celik |
39 - 39 | +0 | 80.2 | 82.5% | 1.19 |
 Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov |
48 - 35 | +13 | 72.6 | 69.8% | 1.18 |
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
35 - 34 | +1 | 61.5 | 74.6% | 1.04 |
With day two in the books, the matchups for day three looks as follows, with times in EDT:
| Lower Bracket | ||
| The Quest |
vs. Luminosity |
12:10 PM |
| Bad News Bears |
vs. oNe |
12:10 PM |
| ATK |
vs. Singularity |
3:10 PM |
| Envy |
vs. New Identity |
3:10 PM |
