IEM Brazil dates set for Major clash
Yesterday, BLAST announced the dates for upcoming qualifiers, with the organizer rescheduling and expanding the open qualifiers for the upcoming BLAST.tv Paris Major.
BLAST's change was needed after a community outcry over the lack of multiple open qualifiers. In events past regions like Europe, North America, and South America had multiple opportunities for teams to qualify. Notably, Evil Geniuses had been knocked out in the first open qualifier in NA while it took Astralis four attempts in Europe to make it to the RMR. Additionally, the dates clashed with ESL Pro League, where there was the potential for NA or SA teams to have to choose between the two.
Now, however, it appears that both BLAST and ESL will be overlapping with the closed qualifier for IEM Brazil slated to begin on February 15th and end the next day on the 16th. This directly overlaps with both the first and second BLAST open qualifiers for North America and South America.
So far, ESL and BLAST have not addressed how they will handle the clash, with some in North America wondering if they will be forced to choose between one or the other.
North America:
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Open Qualifier #1: February 14th - February 15th (RMR)
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Open Qualifier #2: February 15th - February 16th (RMR)
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Closed Qualifier: February 15th - February 16th (IEM Brazil)
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Closed Qualifier: February 17th - February 19th (RMR)
South America:
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Open Qualifier #1: February 14th - February 15th (RMR)
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Open Qualifier #2: February 15th - February 16th (RMR)
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Closed Qualifier: February 15th - February 16th (IEM Brazil)
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Closed Qualifier: February 17th - February 19th (RMR)
ESL also announced their invites for their closed qualifier, with Complexity and paiN being the two teams to receive direct spots. This means that Evil Geniuses, should they wish to participate, will have to fight their way through the open qualifier and somehow not clash with any matches for the RMR qualifiers if they wish to make the tournament.
