Nouns, PA, ATK set to battle in stacked qualifier
The BLAST.tv Paris Major Americas RMR has come and gone, but that doesn't stop the grind for teams like Nouns. The squad, just coming back from a successful trip in Mexico and successfully winning a crucial vote to continue their funding for the next ten months, have made it through the ESL Challenger Katowice Open Qualifier, only dropping a single map.
The two-day qualifier, which also saw Evil Geniuses fall to ESEA Advanced side WITHOUTWARNING in the second round, was brutal for a number of teams who had to claw their way for three available spots in the closed qualifier to meet up with ATK. Complexity had also been invited to the closed qualifier, but declined the event as they already have an action packed schedule with the team headed to the BLAST.tv Paris Major and IEM Dallas.
Qualifying for the next stage was not overly challenging for Party Astronauts, who easily dispatched Claymakers and timbermen, but did run up against the red-hot Nouns who recently took a map off of Liquid, who in turn defeated them in a BO3 that went the distance. PA, however, were able to qualify thanks for Complexity's withdrawal as they took the third place decider over Take Flyte.
Party AstronautsTake Flyte| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
55 - 25 | +30 | 94.9 | 83.3% | 1.64 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
40 - 31 | +9 | 84.8 | 70.4% | 1.19 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
41 - 28 | +13 | 71.2 | 77.8% | 1.18 |
| Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
36 - 34 | +2 | 83.7 | 79.6% | 1.13 |
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
32 - 30 | +2 | 65.5 | 77.8% | 1.06 |
| Take Flyte |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle 'Wolffe' Greenfield |
34 - 39 | -5 | 73.2 | 64.8% | 0.99 |
| Umar 'Umar' Qaiser |
31 - 39 | -8 | 66.8 | 61.1% | 0.88 |
| Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
32 - 41 | -9 | 71.7 | 50.0% | 0.86 |
| Liam 'xCAPE' Redmond |
27 - 42 | -15 | 54.6 | 53.7% | 0.69 |
| Nick 'nicx' Lee |
24 - 43 | -19 | 54.8 | 53.7% | 0.67 |
Nouns, as mentioned before, cruised to the qualification with the only stumbling block being Party Astronauts as they took down DNA and Mythic 16-4, 16-11, respectively. Their final match against Party Astronauts went the full distance, but also to a nail-biting overtime on the final map which saw the Americas RMR representative pull away to secure their spot to play later tonight.
Party AstronautsNouns| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
82 - 53 | +29 | 92.5 | 73.0% | 1.42 |
| Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
54 - 70 | -16 | 79.4 | 64.0% | 0.95 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
61 - 65 | -4 | 71.1 | 58.4% | 0.90 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
58 - 73 | -15 | 76.8 | 62.9% | 0.88 |
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
36 - 70 | -34 | 56.2 | 62.9% | 0.67 |
| Nouns |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David 'cynic' Polster |
82 - 57 | +25 | 94.3 | 77.5% | 1.43 |
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
72 - 60 | +12 | 86.6 | 70.8% | 1.12 |
 Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
58 - 63 | -5 | 82.6 | 68.5% | 1.11 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
62 - 57 | +5 | 73.7 | 70.8% | 1.05 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
55 - 57 | -2 | 69.4 | 69.7% | 0.98 |
Finally, Detonate, with their full roster together, along with Danish coach Philippe "Winspai" Mølgaard Ouabaid, were able to run their section of the bracket, taking down X13, EG-killers WITHOUTWARNING, and Take Flyte, sending the latter team to the third-place decider, where they would unfortunately go up against the new-look Party Astronauts. Detonate, who are looking to avenge their failed venture to Mexico, play their first game tonight against Nouns.
DETONATETake Flyte| DETONATE |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
49 - 23 | +26 | 83.2 | 84.3% | 1.45 |
| Matthew 'Cryptic' Whitmore |
41 - 34 | +7 | 97.2 | 80.4% | 1.35 |
| Brett 'brett' Rhein |
42 - 33 | +9 | 87.8 | 80.4% | 1.29 |
 Adam 'freshie' Paterson |
38 - 34 | +4 | 82.5 | 74.5% | 1.15 |
| Jack 'micro' Ryan |
30 - 31 | -1 | 68.8 | 82.4% | 1.08 |
| Take Flyte |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liam 'xCAPE' Redmond |
26 - 26 | +0 | 65.8 | 78.4% | 1.11 |
| Nick 'nicx' Lee |
35 - 39 | -4 | 69.5 | 72.5% | 0.97 |
| Umar 'Umar' Qaiser |
32 - 40 | -8 | 62.7 | 62.7% | 0.88 |
| Noah 'Nifty' Francis |
29 - 44 | -15 | 67.4 | 56.9% | 0.76 |
| Kyle 'Wolffe' Greenfield |
25 - 40 | -15 | 57.4 | 56.9% | 0.73 |
| Tommy 'corn' Eckhart |
6 - 12 | -6 | 37.0 | 69.6% | 0.71 |
The ESL Challenger Katowice Closed Qualifier takes place over the next two days, with only one spot going to the winner of the competition. ATK, Party Astronauts, Nouns, and Detonate will all be looking to punch their ticket to Poland.
Both games begin today at 05:30PM.
