Wildcard take down NRG to claim final IEM Dallas CQ spot
Wildcard are the final team through the IEM Dallas Open Qualifiers after successfully running through a tougher second-day bracket which included Party Astronauts in their way.
Now, Wildcard can join Liquid, BOSS, and Nouns in the IEM Dallas Closed Qualifier which will begin later today to decide who from North America will earn the coveted spot at the United States' biggest LAN event of the year. For Liquid, this a qualifier they are desperate to win as they have never failed to make it to Dallas since the inception of Liquid's Counter-Strike division.
NRG and Wildcard started on the opposite sides of the bracket, with both teams not having too much trouble getting to the grand final. NRG was able to defeat Mythic and Limitless 13-8, 13-2. Wildcard also didn't have too much trouble as they went through G3 and Party Astronauts 13-5, 13-9, respectively.
In the grand final, Wildcard would run out as winners of the series 2-0 almost in a dominant fashion. The squad picked Mirage to start the contest, which was confusing as the team had only played the map once before. However, that didn't seem to matter as they raced out to an unstoppable 11-1 T-side half which was exemplified by Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz's opening pistol round 1v4 victory and Ace 1v3 clutch to put Wildcard up 6-0. This was stanislaw's 6th successful 1v4 in his career.
NRG would find some success on their T-side, but it was not enough as Wildcard closed out the map 13-6 to take the series lead. NRG found their mojo on their pick of Inferno as they jumped ahead to a solid 9-3 lead, but soon found that slipping on their CT side as Wildcard stormed back. The American side collected ten rounds as they came back to win Inferno 13-10.
NRGWildcard| NRG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jadan 'HexT' Postma |
34 - 28 | +6 | 92.9 | 73.8% | 1.24 |
 Vincent 'Brehze' Cayonte |
34 - 29 | +5 | 86.9 | 66.7% | 1.15 |
| Damian 'daps' Steele |
23 - 30 | -7 | 62.9 | 76.2% | 0.90 |
| Justin 'FaNg' Coakley |
18 - 25 | -7 | 53.6 | 71.4% | 0.75 |
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
18 - 28 | -10 | 50.8 | 64.3% | 0.73 |
| Wildcard |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gage 'Infinite' Green |
37 - 27 | +10 | 94.5 | 76.2% | 1.35 |
 Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
29 - 23 | +6 | 74.0 | 71.4% | 1.17 |
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
27 - 25 | +2 | 72.7 | 69.0% | 1.11 |
| Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
26 - 23 | +3 | 57.5 | 71.4% | 1.01 |
| Josh 'JBa' Barutt |
20 - 30 | -10 | 63.6 | 73.8% | 0.87 |
Wildcard now joins Liquid, BOSS, and Nouns as the action begins tonight for the IEM Dallas North American Closed Qualifier. The first matches begin tonight at 05:30PM and will go through to tomorrow.
