First BLAST Premier Spring Showdown open qualifier down to four teams
The North American Qualifier for BLAST Premier's Spring Showdown is slated to begin on March 26th and will feature five invited teams and three open qualifier teams. The first of those open qualifiers will conclude this evening and will see either Pryde, RBG, Rebirth, or Secret Club secure the first spot in the Closed Qualifier.
This first qualifier has not been without drama, as a number of players tweeted their frustrations with the servers utilized to host the event. Even players that benefitted from the technical issues, such as Alex "Mauisnake" Ellenberg, were critical of the quality of the matches played as a result of the server issues. The outcry prompted the following response from the Challengermode platform, emphasizing that players should utilize the avenues available to them to communicate with event administrators in real time.
Another logistical issue that came to a head early on was the lack of seeding in the event. ImPerium and RBG squared off in just their second best-of-three series, while Recon 5's first match of the event was against The Commission.
A number of other ESEA Premier sides participated in this first open qualifier but have since been eliminated. Recon 5 lost their aforementioned match with The Commission, while RBG bested ImPerium in the other match that perhaps happened earlier in the bracket than it should have. Levitate bowed out in the quarterfinals, as did Oceanus.
Secret Club defeated LVC, Silver3Gang, X13, and The Commission to advance to tonight's semifinal. Their opponent, Rebirth, bested IMPETU, Washed up 5, and Levitate to meet them there. On the other side of the bracket RBG secured their spot in the final four with wins over Amu and Unknown Main in addition to the early win over ImPerium. The final semifinalist is the lone ESEA Advanced side to run through the bracket, Pryde, who defeated TWScs, Tidal, and then upset Oceanus in three maps to reach the final day of competition.
The semifinals for the first open qualifier are:
 Secret Club |
vs. | Rebirth |
 RBG |
vs. | Pryde |
Tonight's matches will begin shortly at 6PM EST. The full bracket can be found here.
