Karma and Totsugeki qualify for ESL Impact Season 4 NA

The first qualifier for ESL Impact Season 4 North America has reached its end, with Karma and Totsugeki claiming two spots in the group stage alongside the invited teams.

Karma overcame FLUFFY AIMERS White in what was a very competitive series until the third map, while Totsugeki and Loot Goblins scrapped intensely in both maps, with Totsugeki managing to get away with the 2-0 win.

It is no surprise that the skill level of the women's scene has been steadily rising with each subsequent ESL Impact season, and yesterday's semifinals showed it.

The series of the evening would be between FLUFFY AIMERS White, a team that has been showing a lot of promise consistently, and Karma, one of the most winning and most experienced rosters in the scene that has recently come back to Counter-Strike. The task would not be easy for either of the two and the result was a fan treat, one of the best series that we've seen in recent ESL Impact seasons.

Inferno started off very lopsided, as FA White took an 11-4 lead going into the CT-side, but Karma wouldn't go down quietly. Karma managed to close the deficit to 13-11 in favor of FA White, before making it 14-12. After that, FA White settled in and closed out the map 16-12.

Going into Ancient, it didn't look good for Karma, as the map was picked by their opponents. A back-and-forth half had FA White leading 8-7 before going to the T-side. Once again, after trading rounds, Karma found themselves down 13-11, but this time they managed to tie the game 13-13. Against pistols, it seemed like Karma would take the lead, but no, Lydia "Fawx" Dalton hit some beautiful one-shots with a Deagle and finished the round with an AK-47 double kill to claim the Ace in a pivotal moment. The team was so hyped they had to call a timeout to calm down. Unfortunately for them, Karma would come back and not allow any more rounds, sending the game to the decider with a 16-14 win.

On Anubis, FA White went radio silent, winning just a singular round. Karma looked focused and on point, as Olga "olya" Kryvulych was a woman-possessed in the middle of Anubis, getting at least one kill every round, even in the most dire of situations. The rest of the team was also fragging above average, which contributed to the 16-1 scoreline.

The series between Totsugeki and Loot Goblins took a while to start, as the teams had to wait for Gock Cobblers to forfeit the quarterfinal match against Loot Goblins. Once it started, Totsugeki was immediately in command of Inferno T-side, getting an early lead, which extended to a 10-5 half. In the second half, Totsugeki managed to stretch their lead with the pistol and the next two rounds, making it 13-5. Loot Goblins closed the deficit a little bit, but it was too little too late, as they would lose the map 16-10.

Overpass was quite different. Loot Goblins lost the pistol and the next round, but then managed to get seven in a row, and then one more before the end of the half. Totsugeki replied with four of their own to go to halftime down 8-7. The second half was the total opposite and much more contentious, with the teams going back and forth exchanging rounds, until Totsugeki managed to win a few in a row to make it 14-10 in their favor. Loot Goblins were able to tie the game 14-14 but then ran out of gas and Totsugeki won 16-14, clinching a spot in the ESL Impact Season 4 North American division.

With these wins, Karma and Totsugeki join Detonate SparX, FlyQuest RED, Evil Geniuses Gold, and Shimmer for the group stage of ESL Impact Season 4, while they wait for the next qualifier and with it, the last two teams to join them.

The next open qualifier starts on Wednesday and there are already teams that signed up, such as FLUFFY AIMERS White, who must feel like they truly deserve a spot after their incredible series against Karma. If you are interested in signing up, you can do so here.