TeamOne, Ghost to IEM Sydney North American closed qualifier

TeamOne and Ghost Gaming are through to the North American closed qualifier for IEM Sydney after finishing top two in the open bracket.

A total of 128 teams from the North American region competed in the open qualifier for IEM Sydney 2018, with all of the matches being BO1 leading up to the semi-final. The first portion of the qualifier saw the South Africans of Bravado eliminate Mythic and Splyce edge past Vikings in overtime, while TeamOne and Ghost breezed through their competition to stay alive through the first rounds of the playoffs.

Kory "⁠SEMPHIS⁠" Friesen’s Splyce went head-to-head against the Brazilians of TeamOne, who had recently turned heads at the WESG 2017 World Finals after eliminating Major champions Cloud9 in the quarter-finals. The Brazilian side started on their map pick, Cache, where Splyce controlled the first half on the terrorist side for a 9-6 lead. Both teams went back and forth throughout the second half, with Splyce eventually forcing overtime - in which Jean-Michel "⁠mch⁠" D'Oliveira and his men picked up two rounds in both halves to claim the series lead.

TeamOne will move on to the IEM Sydney closed qualifier

Splyce looked to even the series on Train, but the Brazilians' CT-side marched through the first half to hand David "⁠DAVEY⁠" Stafford and co. a 10-5 deficit. TeamOne continued their dominance through the second half, winning the first four rounds to what it seemed like a quick half. However, Splyce finally got back into the action by breaking the Brazilians' economy with a flawless A-execute that granted seven straight to bring the deficit within two. Still, TeamOne prevented Splyce from forcing the overtime rounds to clinch one of the two closed qualifier slots.

IEM Sydney 2018 North America Open QualifierBest of 3 TeamOneMatchpage 2 0 29th March 2018 Splyce 19Cache 16 16Train 14

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The second semi-final between Ghost and Bravado started on the South Africans' map pick, Cobblestone, where the first half was all about Ghost's T-side as the North Americans picked up 11 rounds. The sides switched and so did the momentum as Bravado began to rack rounds, but Ghost kept their cool and took the map in the final round of regulation. 

Andy "⁠vSa⁠" Xu and his men were determined to take home their map pick, Train, but Bravado put their foot down in the pistol round for a win. Ghost quickly rallied back to take control on their T-side, not allowing much room for Bravado to pick up their economy, resulting in a 10-5 lead at the half. Ghost continued to press on, only giving up one round in the second half, with Yassine "⁠Subroza⁠" Taoufik finishing the game with a 1.79 rating and a 112.6 ADR to help his team clinch the last closed qualifier slot.

IEM Sydney 2018 North America Open QualifierBest of 3 BravadoMatchpage 0 2 29th March 2018 Ghost 14Cobblestone 16 6Train 16

Bravado	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekSonic	31 - 31	0	67.1	1.04
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouJT	39 - 38	+1	75.5	1.00
Dimitri 'Detrony' HadjipaschaliDetrony	35 - 39	-4	78.8	0.95
Rhys 'Fadey' ArmstrongFadey	33 - 39	-6	75.2	0.95
Ruan 'ELUSIVE' van WykELUSIVE	24 - 38	-14	55.6	0.82

Ghost	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Matthew 'WARDELL' YuWARDELL	42 - 32	+10	91.3	1.39
Yassine 'Subroza' TaoufikSubroza	42 - 33	+9	85.8	1.31
Tramaine 'stan1ey' Stanleystan1ey	37 - 31	+6	74.4	1.17
Sebastian 'seb' Buckiseb	38 - 33	+5	68.3	1.14
Andy 'vSa' XuvSa	25 - 33	-8	64.8	0.92

With the open qualifier now behind us, the complete team list for the North American closed qualifier, which will run from March 29-30, can be found below:

Liquid	Complexity
Torqued	NRG
OpTic	Luminosity
TeamOne	Ghost

Complexity #52 Pujan 'FNS' MehtaRory 'dephh' JacksonJaccob 'yay' WhiteakerPeter 'ptr' GurneyBradley 'ANDROID' Fodor Bravado #89 Dimitri 'Detrony' HadjipaschaliRuan 'ELUSIVE' van WykAran 'Sonic' GroesbeekRhys 'Fadey' ArmstrongJohnny 'JT' Theodosiou Luminosity #31 Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoGustavo 'SHOOWTiME' GonçalvesGabriel 'NEKIZ' SchenatoGustavo 'yel' KnittelMarcelo 'chelo' Cespedes Splyce #92 Kory 'SEMPHIS' FriesenDavid 'DAVEY' StaffordTaylor 'Drone' JohnsonZack 'XotiC' Elshani Torqued #28 Braxton 'swag' PierceJoshua 'steel' NissanKeven 'AZK' LariviereKenneth 'koosta' SuenMatt 'Pollo' Wilson Jean-Michel 'mch' D'Oliveira Age: 28 Team: TeamOne Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 240 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.63 Mythic #99 Eric 'adreN' HoagTodd 'anger' WilliamsJames 'hazed' CobbErik 'fl0m' FlomAdam 'Polen' Polen Ghost #61 Sebastian 'seb' BuckiAndy 'vSa' XuYassine 'Subroza' TaoufikMatthew 'WARDELL' YuTramaine 'stan1ey' Stanley Andy 'vSa' Xu Age: 23 Team: Ghost Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 253 KPR: 0.65 DPR: 0.64 OpTic #33 René 'cajunb' BorgShahzeb 'ShahZaM' KhanPeter 'stanislaw' JarguzNicklas 'gade' GadeKristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke Liquid #5 Lucas 'steel' LopesNick 'nitr0' CannellaKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiRussel 'Twistzz' Van Dulken Kory 'SEMPHIS' Friesen Age: 28 Team: Splyce Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 702 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.70 NRG #21 Damian 'daps' SteeleJacob 'FugLy' MedinaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteEthan 'Ethan' ArnoldTsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov David 'DAVEY' Stafford Age: 21 Team: Splyce Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 464 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.70 Yassine 'Subroza' Taoufik Age: 20 Team: Ghost Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 255 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.71 Cloud9 #2 Tyler 'Skadoodle' LathamWilliam 'RUSH' WierzbaTarik 'tarik' CelikTimothy 'autimatic' TaJake 'Stewie2K' Yip TeamOne #24 Pedro 'Maluk3' CamposJean-Michel 'mch' D'OliveiraVictor 'iDk' TorracaAlencar 'trk' RossatoPedro 'drg' Lima Vikings Harim 'terrorize' IsmaeilCorbin 'C0M' LeeCasey 'SideStep' HartzlerBruno 'WiGGY' RabaniJulian 'hybr1d' Rivera