Nouns fe and WG Bandits qualify for ESL Impact Season 5 North America
In an Open Qualifier #1 that only had eight teams signed up, Nouns fe and WG Bandits came out on top and have secured their spots in the upcoming ESL Impact Season 5 North America, joining the four invited teams, FlyQuest RED, Shimmer, Lotus, and Karma.
With Nouns fe and WG Bandits advancing to the group stage, only two more spots are up for grabs in the second open qualifier, which starts on February 16th.
Given the small amount of participating teams, in order to qualify, a squad would have to win just two BO3 series. WG Bandits started their journey against caffiends, a mix team, and advanced with 13-1, 13-2 victories. Up next would be cleanup crew, another mix team that included names like Paula "paula" Ramanauskas, Shelby "Shelby" A., and Iuliia "sckrafft" Gerasimova, all former ESL Impact League participants. cleanup crew would start the series with a 13-8 win, but WG Bandits came back with 13-11 and 13-5 map wins to clinch the spot in the regional division.
WG Banditscleanup crew fe| WG Bandits |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Milla 'MamaAlien' Schmidt |
56 - 44 | +12 | 88.6 | 76.2% | 1.27 |
| Kristen 'PippySippy' Hendrickson |
50 - 40 | +10 | 79.5 | 81.0% | 1.26 |
| Amanda 'Reef' Ruiz |
45 - 39 | +6 | 85.4 | 76.2% | 1.20 |
| Rose 'Tippy' Rolle |
48 - 42 | +6 | 79.1 | 66.7% | 1.18 |
 Jayde 'jaydee' Slabosz |
29 - 48 | -19 | 62.4 | 68.3% | 0.79 |
| cleanup crew fe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Iuliia 'sckrafft' Gerasimova |
49 - 43 | +6 | 81.4 | 79.4% | 1.18 |
 Terry 'Bubzy' L. |
46 - 43 | +3 | 83.2 | 73.0% | 1.10 |
 Shelby 'Shelby' A. |
48 - 49 | -1 | 76.1 | 66.7% | 0.96 |
| Ariane 'ARIANARCHIST' Lafrenière |
38 - 49 | -11 | 67.4 | 57.1% | 0.90 |
| Paula 'paula' Ramanauskas |
31 - 45 | -14 | 59.5 | 58.7% | 0.79 |
On the other side of the bracket, Nouns fe had a similar experience by defeating PriorityDoppler 13-1, 13-9, and then meeting the always present COVEN, who they beat with almost the exact same scoreline, 13-1, 13-8, to secure their place in the group stage. COVEN had beaten the returning Little Bocks after three very close maps. COVEN won the first one 13-11, and while Little Bocks replied with a 13-9 win, the squad couldn't finish the comeback and lost the decider to COVEN 13-9.
Nouns feCOVEN| Nouns fe |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Natalie 'ashe' Betts |
36 - 18 | +18 | 108.3 | 85.7% | 1.78 |
| Jessica 'jesscas' Ngo |
33 - 21 | +12 | 107.5 | 80.0% | 1.54 |
| Riley 'lunari' Luna |
32 - 16 | +16 | 73.2 | 91.4% | 1.49 |
| Cynthia 'katalyyst' Sheerajin |
31 - 15 | +16 | 83.5 | 80.0% | 1.45 |
| Tig 'Rice' Simpson |
14 - 19 | -5 | 54.5 | 82.9% | 1.01 |
| COVEN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angela 'angil' Helmstetler |
26 - 30 | -4 | 89.8 | 71.4% | 0.99 |
| Vicky 'CANNIBAL' Rich |
20 - 31 | -11 | 70.1 | 54.3% | 0.78 |
| Jlee 'JLee' Jay |
15 - 31 | -16 | 52.3 | 51.4% | 0.60 |
| Tara-Lynn 'tbear' Prevost |
14 - 28 | -14 | 52.3 | 57.1% | 0.56 |
| Jundiya 'Jundiya' Bug |
14 - 28 | -14 | 35.6 | 42.9% | 0.46 |
After these first qualifier results, it's clearer who the favorites are to take the final two spots in the league. After putting up an incredible fight against WG Bandits, cleanup crew look like a strong candidate to advance, just like COVEN and Little Bocks. Out of the three teams, one will not be making it to the next stage. It all gets decided between February 16th and 17th.
Sign-ups for the ESL Impact Season 5 North America Open Qualifier #2 are open and you can still register to play here.
