Trio of Brazilian sides remain in contention for IEM XVI: Winter
North America managed to put just one representative through to the IEM XVI: Winter Closed Qualifier, the hybrid Extra Salt roster. That same roster was the first to be eliminated from the Closed Qualifier, leaving just paiN, GODSENT, and FURIA to fight for the one available spot at December's LAN.
A number of well-known teams from the upper echelons of ESEA bowed out of the open qualifiers early, including Triumph, Eros, Brazen, and Infinity. The first qualification match concluded in a 2-0 sweep in favor of Extra Salt over Bad News Bears. The second was a triumph for paiN over oNe, who ran away with Overpass to complete a sweep of their own after a closely contested affair on Nuke.
In the opening round of the Closed Qualifier FURIA swept paiN on Ancient and Inferno. FURIA carried a modest 9-6 lead into halftime on Ancient, then went blow for blow with their South American bretheren to stave off the second-half comeback attempt. The scoreline on Inferno speaks for itself, the paiN CT-side simply couldn't mount a serviceable defense in the first half and was doomed from there.
FURIApaiN| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
45 - 22 | +23 | 82.4 | 78.3% | 1.53 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
35 - 22 | +13 | 89.3 | 82.6% | 1.36 |
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
33 - 20 | +13 | 79.2 | 78.3% | 1.36 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
35 - 31 | +4 | 86.1 | 69.6% | 1.31 |
| André 'drop' Abreu |
22 - 22 | +0 | 63.3 | 82.6% | 1.03 |
| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
30 - 35 | -5 | 69.1 | 65.2% | 0.89 |
| Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
28 - 34 | -6 | 69.8 | 54.3% | 0.79 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
22 - 31 | -9 | 55.5 | 52.2% | 0.69 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
20 - 32 | -12 | 56.2 | 54.3% | 0.68 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
17 - 38 | -21 | 54.2 | 50.0% | 0.59 |
The 2-0 sweep for GODSENT fails to tell the whole story here, both maps went a minimum of the full 30 rounds and were won by the slimmest of margins. In the end a pair of 52-kill performances from GODSENT's veterans, João "felps" Vasconcellos and Epitacio "TACO" de Melo, was too much for Extra Salt to handle. Josh "oSee" Ohm led the North Americans with 46 frags in the loss.
Extra SaltGODSENT| Extra Salt |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
46 - 40 | +6 | 74.8 | 75.8% | 1.10 |
 Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
42 - 50 | -8 | 72.2 | 71.2% | 0.96 |
 Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
45 - 50 | -5 | 76.1 | 63.6% | 0.96 |
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
37 - 43 | -6 | 65.3 | 69.7% | 0.91 |
 Justin 'FaNg' Coakley |
35 - 46 | -11 | 67.8 | 63.6% | 0.90 |
| GODSENT |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| João 'felps' Vasconcellos |
52 - 42 | +10 | 85.1 | 69.7% | 1.28 |
| Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
52 - 43 | +9 | 85.9 | 66.7% | 1.20 |
| Bruno 'b4rtiN' Câmara |
45 - 40 | +5 | 76.1 | 80.3% | 1.14 |
| Bruno 'latto' Rebelatto |
46 - 38 | +8 | 71.3 | 77.3% | 1.11 |
| Eduardo 'dumau' Wolkmer |
32 - 43 | -11 | 58.3 | 72.7% | 0.85 |
paiN opened the first elimination match with a thirty-round victory on Ancient, then traded Overpass and Vertigo with Extra Salt to stay alive to fight another day. oSee's server-best 69 kills was nearly 20 kills better than any of his teammates, while Rafael "saffee" Costa finished with 61 frags for the victors.
paiNExtra Salt| paiN |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rafael 'saffee' Costa |
61 - 48 | +13 | 70.6 | 69.5% | 1.16 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourt |
58 - 51 | +7 | 82.8 | 70.7% | 1.15 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' Coelho |
56 - 56 | +0 | 76.9 | 76.8% | 1.07 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' Schenato |
53 - 53 | +0 | 71.3 | 70.7% | 1.02 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopes |
49 - 48 | +1 | 62.2 | 70.7% | 0.97 |
| Extra Salt |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'oSee' Ohm |
69 - 55 | +14 | 80.1 | 68.3% | 1.21 |
| Justin 'FaNg' Coakley |
52 - 61 | -9 | 74.3 | 68.3% | 0.99 |
| Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
49 - 53 | -4 | 68.4 | 65.9% | 0.96 |
| Aran 'Sonic' Groesbeek |
47 - 52 | -5 | 61.2 | 72.0% | 0.94 |
| Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou |
38 - 57 | -19 | 65.9 | 63.4% | 0.86 |
FURIA were able to reverse sweep GODSENT to punch their ticket to the grand final, but it was felps who grabbed the series highlight with this perfectly executed 1v4 ace clutch. Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato led all players with 83 frags, 20 more than the top fragger from GODSENT, Bruno "b4rtiN" Câmara, who tallied 63 kills in the series loss.
FURIAGODSENT| FURIA |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaike 'KSCERATO' Cerato |
83 - 59 | +24 | 96.2 | 77.8% | 1.41 |
| Yuri 'yuurih' Santos |
77 - 60 | +17 | 93.9 | 67.8% | 1.26 |
| André 'drop' Abreu |
59 - 54 | +5 | 72.8 | 73.3% | 1.09 |
| Andrei 'arT' Piovezan |
64 - 59 | +5 | 77.0 | 68.9% | 1.09 |
| Vinicius 'VINI' Figueiredo |
41 - 50 | -9 | 55.1 | 68.9% | 0.86 |
| GODSENT |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruno 'latto' Rebelatto |
57 - 62 | -5 | 85.2 | 72.2% | 1.05 |
| João 'felps' Vasconcellos |
62 - 63 | -1 | 67.2 | 66.7% | 1.01 |
| Bruno 'b4rtiN' Câmara |
63 - 69 | -6 | 67.7 | 65.6% | 0.94 |
| Epitacio 'TACO' de Melo |
51 - 64 | -13 | 63.8 | 61.1% | 0.84 |
| Eduardo 'dumau' Wolkmer |
47 - 66 | -19 | 68.8 | 66.7% | 0.84 |
The remaining matches in the Closed Qualifier today are:
| GODSENT |
vs. paiN |
4PM EDT |
| FURIA |
vs. paiN/GODSENT |
8PM EDT |
The champion crowned tonight will join eleven invited teams, three European qualifier teams, and the recently crowned Asian qualifier team, TYLOO, at IEM XVI: Winter from December 2nd-12th.
