Extra Salt, Mythic, Secret Club, and Third Impact invited to DreamHack Open March 2021 Closed Qualifier
The first of two open qualifiers for DreamHack Open March 2021 has concluded and Recon 5 and RBG have advanced to next weekend's Closed Qualifier. They will join the teams that were announced as direct invites to the Closed Qualifier yesterday: Extra Salt, Mythic, Secret Club, and Third Impact.
Though two ESEA Premier teams eventually went on to advance to the Closed Qualifier, there were a number of early upsets that prevented some high stakes maps late in the open qualifier. Oceanus lost their first match to DeMan 16-9 on Mirage, while Rise lost their first match to GODHAND 16-7 on Overpass. Levitate stumbled out of the gate and dropped their match against Ryze's money crew 16-10 on Inferno, which featured a number of ESEA Premier players including Jeorge "jeorgesnorts" Endicott from GGPR and Kellar "SLIGHT" Nilan, who was recently cut from Secret Club.
Tidal, featuring Ian "heretic" Carfora, were the surprise team of the event and took full advantage of Oceanus' loss to advance all the way to the best-of-three series with RBG. They defeated UYU, DeMan, and Synergy to have the chance to play for a spot in the Closed Qualifier, but RBG proved too strong of a gatekeeper.
Recon 5 Black tried to sneak into the field as Springroll but were caught and disqualified for attempting to play in the same qualifier as Recon 5.
With the issues with their academy side all cleaned up, Recon 5 enjoyed a first-round bye and then defeated Run It Back, HeadShotKings, and eRa before they met ImPerium in a best-of-three match for the Closed Qualifier spot. Koby "kobruh" Higgs had 42 kills in the series as Recon 5 swept ImPerium 16-7 on Inferno and 16-8 on Nuke.
RBG also had the benefit of a first-round bye and then defeated East Coast, Global, and Pryde before they faced Tidal in a best-of-three for a ticket to next weekend's event. Connor "chop" Sullivan had 47 frags in the 45 round series as RBG promptly handled their business with the ESEA Advanced side and picked up a 16-5 win on Mirage and a 16-8 win on Overpass.
So far the Closed Qualifier field for DreamHack Open March 2021 will be:
 Extra Salt |
 Mythic |
| Secret Club |
Third Impact |
| Recon 5 |
RBG |
| TBD |
TBD |
The second open qualifier begins in just a few minutes at 6PM EST and will conclude tomorrow. Notable ESEA Premier teams that are currently registered to participate include GGPR, ImPerium, Oceanus, and SKDC. The bracket can be found here.
