Vendetta prevail in first IEM Brazil Open Qualifier
The first open qualifier for IEM Brazil has come to a close after two days of play, seeing Vendetta take down Nouns in a two-map affair in the final. Vendetta will now be joining Complexity and paiN in the closed qualifier, alongside a squad from the second open qualifier, for a shot at competing at IEM Brazil in April.
Vendetta kicked off day two of the open qualifier with convincing victories over two fellow Challenger League teams, timbermen and ATK, accruing 16-6 and 16-9 scorelines in the respective matches. This set Vendetta up for a grand final versus Nouns, who secured a forfeit victory over Davenport University and a 16-11 win over Strife to reach the end of the qualifier.
The series kicked off on Vendetta's pick of Overpass, where the squad got off to a flying 7-0 start on their T-side, fueled by a 1.63 rating from Connor "chop" Sullivan. Nouns rebounded with a streak of five rounds of their own, but Vendetta had the last laugh as they snatched the last three rounds to take a 10-5 lead. A pistol round win on the defense helped Vendetta push their lead to 13-6, but Nouns began to claw their way back to a double-digit scoreline. However, a comeback from Nouns was not to be, as Vendetta closed out their pick with a 16-10 scoreline as the series headed to Vertigo.
Vendetta managed to secure themselves another strong start on Vertigo, as they marched ahead to a 6-1 lead on the defense. Despite this triumphant start, Nouns would ultimately find themselves in control of the half as they went on to secure seven of the remaining eight rounds to edge out an 8-7 lead. Vendetta snatched the second pistol round in order to push themselves to double digits, but Nouns once again took control of the match as they steamed ahead to a 14-10 score. With the pressure mounting, Vendetta scraped together five rounds straight to claim match point, and although Nouns managed to force overtime, the momentum was with Vendetta as they won out in overtime 19-17.
VendettaNouns| Vendetta |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
44 - 38 | +6 | 80.0 | 69.4% | 1.22 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
44 - 35 | +9 | 71.5 | 75.8% | 1.17 |
| Kevin 'consti' Yi |
39 - 29 | +10 | 63.2 | 83.9% | 1.16 |
 Saad 'Pluto' Siraj |
44 - 41 | +3 | 80.5 | 71.0% | 1.14 |
| Andrew 'Tender' Cote |
32 - 39 | -7 | 62.4 | 66.1% | 0.89 |
| Nouns |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
44 - 41 | +3 | 82.8 | 71.0% | 1.08 |
| David 'cynic' Polster |
41 - 44 | -3 | 78.9 | 59.7% | 0.97 |
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
32 - 41 | -9 | 63.2 | 71.0% | 0.93 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
33 - 36 | -3 | 61.5 | 71.0% | 0.92 |
| Bobby 'stamina' Eitrem |
31 - 42 | -11 | 50.2 | 64.5% | 0.80 |
Nouns will have time to recuperate before their next shot at the IEM Brazil Closed Qualifier, as that event is set to begin on February 11th. With their spot now secured, Vendetta will be looking to prepare for their next outing, as they face EG White in the CCT North America Series 3 tonight at 08:00PM.
