M80, Reason, Hound, and Melly Madness finalize ESEA Pre-Season Circuit list

The final qualifier for the ESEA Pre-Season Circuit Summer event has wrapped up, with the recently-signed M80 and Reason squads qualifying for the main event over Limitless and FakeMythic, respectively. Just a day earlier, ESEA Advanced sides Hound and Melly Madness also found themselves in the final event, as they bested ex-BHOP and M80 respectively to claim their spots. The conclusion of these two qualifiers now finalizes the 16 teams slated to play in the main event, set to begin in less than a week on July 30th.

Hound and Melly Madness both made their way through the penultimate open qualifier for the event, and both took down at least one notable name in the process, particularly so for the latter squad. For Hounds, the most daunting opponent on their route to victory was ex-BHOP, although Hound ultimately had little trouble dispatching them, claiming a 16-9 scoreline to move on to the main event.

After beating Tempest in a narrow 16-14 victory, Melly Madness squared off against the much-hyped M80 for a shot at securing their own place in the main event. Defying expectations, the Advanced side overcame a 12-5 deficit on the defense on Nuke, with Wyatt "Weeza" Sahrmann's 1.44 rating allowing his squad to pull through with a 16-14 victory.

With only two spots remaining, at least some of M80, Mythic, Limitless, Reason, and a number of other squads were now slated to miss out on the main event. After their devastating choke against Melly Madness the day before, M80 were able to maneuver through the qualifier with relative ease, barring a 16-14 scare versus StandOnBusiness halfway through the bracket.

The final spot would ultimately go the way of Reason, who took down a Mythic squad lacking Ryan "freakazoid" Abadir and Austin "Cooper" Abadir in the finals, allowing them to procure a place in the top sixteen.

The finalized list of teams for the main event is:

These sixteen teams will begin duking it out on July 30th in a single-elimination bracket, with the winner set to take home the lion's share of the $20,000 prize pool.