Thunderpick CQ sees favorites move on
The Thunderpick World Championship 2024 North American Closed Qualifier saw it's first matches kick off last night as NRG, Wildcard, and Nouns were the first to grace the bracket. The single-elimination competition runs through May 24th, with only the winner moving on to the main event in Europe later this October. There will be another closed qualifier event, but every match is important as the win-or-go-home structure raises the stakes.
Nouns 2-0 FLUFFY AIMERS
With new member Will "RUSH" Wierzba in tow, Nouns swept FLUFFY AIMERS aside in two brief maps. Paytyn "junior" Johnson was the man of the match as he was head and shoulders the best player on both Inferno and Vertigo. Nouns started Inferno off dominantly on their T-side as they claimed eight rounds to take the lead in the first half before closing it out 13-7 while playing defense.
On Vertigo it was a bit more challenging, but they again claimed eight rounds on the T-side. The AIMERS came close to reversing the score as they won seven out of eight rounds to start the second half, but Nouns eventually woke up and closed it out.
NounsFLUFFY AIMERS| Nouns |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paytyn 'junior' Johnson |
41 - 19 | +22 | 95.5 | 88.6% | 1.56 |
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
31 - 24 | +7 | 83.6 | 75.0% | 1.18 |
| William 'RUSH' Wierzba |
35 - 28 | +7 | 70.6 | 75.0% | 1.17 |
| Jeorge 'Jeorge' Endicott |
29 - 31 | -2 | 86.2 | 75.0% | 1.09 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
21 - 30 | -9 | 58.5 | 68.2% | 0.76 |
| FLUFFY AIMERS |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diego 'sacrifice' Camacho |
35 - 29 | +6 | 90.0 | 79.5% | 1.27 |
 Darius 'PNDLM' Bandali |
16 - 14 | +2 | 63.9 | 54.2% | 0.98 |
| Brett 'brett' Rhein |
23 - 37 | -14 | 70.5 | 52.3% | 0.81 |
 Nelvin 'nooz' Gonzalez |
26 - 33 | -7 | 72.1 | 65.9% | 0.81 |
| Jason 'jason' Garcia |
24 - 31 | -7 | 59.4 | 63.6% | 0.76 |
| Ahmed 'ayy' Mahmoud |
6 - 14 | -8 | 48.5 | 60.0% | 0.60 |
Wildcard 2-0 Limitless
It was already going to be difficult for Limitless as they were without Brennan "grape" Greer and Leon "DooM" Palmer with Andrew "CAJUN" Guidroz and Liam "xCAPE" Redmon stepping in to help. Wildcard made quick work of the squad with two dominant wins across Vertigo and Ancient. Vertigo was all about Wildcard's offense as they claimed eight rounds to start off the map. Their CT-side was even better as they secured a 5-2 half to win the map 13-6.
Ancient was even easier for Wildcard as their defense held Limitless to only four rounds, while Wildcard's offense overran Limitless as they secured the 13-5 map win and 2-0 series victory.
WildcardLimitless| Wildcard |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam 'Grizz' Golden |
37 - 20 | +17 | 98.9 | 86.5% | 1.66 |
| Josh 'JBa' Barutt |
29 - 16 | +13 | 83.9 | 81.1% | 1.50 |
 Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
30 - 19 | +11 | 95.8 | 81.1% | 1.49 |
| Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
33 - 19 | +14 | 78.6 | 89.2% | 1.38 |
| Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguz |
23 - 14 | +9 | 63.1 | 89.2% | 1.24 |
| Limitless |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nikolaos 'Pose1doNN' Antoniou |
21 - 27 | -6 | 60.2 | 62.2% | 0.76 |
| Keanu 'Danejoris' Reyes |
19 - 31 | -12 | 68.9 | 62.2% | 0.72 |
| Muhammad 'Mellow' Ali |
16 - 29 | -13 | 51.5 | 67.6% | 0.70 |
| Andrew 'CAJUN' Guidroz |
17 - 32 | -15 | 66.4 | 48.6% | 0.63 |
| Liam 'xCAPE' Redmond |
15 - 33 | -18 | 48.1 | 40.5% | 0.42 |
NRG was scheduled to play against Take Flyte but earned a forfeit win and automatically advanced to the quarterfinals. Play resumes at 04:00PM today with M80 playing against E-Xolos LAZER along with three other matches later this afternoon.
M80 v. E-Xolos LAZER 
begins today at 04:00PM
Elevate v. Mythic begins today at 07:00PM
Carpe Diem v. Legacy begins today at 07:00PM
Party Astronauts v. G3 
begins today at 10:00PM
