After an excellent weekend of action, four teams have progressed from the Intel Extreme Masters Season XII World Championship European Qualifier: Heroic, Fnatic, North and Gambit.
Heroic a surprise
Heroic are one of the more surprising teams to make it through, given their inconsistent nature as well as the presence of other top-tier talent at this event – not least mousesports. Heroic appeared to have an easy bracket to begin the event, initially cruising past BIG – who have since announced the benching of two players – 2-0. They then narrowly bested North – who had come into the event with limited expectations having revamped their roster, including the loss of star k0nfig – 2-1. Heroic went on to prove the doubters wrong, with a solid 2-0 victory over one of the best teams at the event, Gambit Esports. Heroic still have much to prove moving forward, but a 2-0 over Gambit is nothing to scoff at.
Fnatic cruise to qualification
Fnatic, unsurprisingly, had the most convincing victories of the tournament, sweeping both Team Singularity and HellRaisers to qualify. Fnatic have been in dominant form as of late, primarily thanks to the efforts of KRIMZ, who has seen a useful resurgence. Fnatic are set to be a dangerous team moving forward, with savvy veterans buying into young in-game leader Golden’s style of play. Fnatic do have fairly stable players in KRIMZ and flusha, giving them a foundation on which to continue to build success for the foreseeable future. Should the likes of Lerk0 and JW find consistency, Fnatic could rise to become a top five team in the world.
North make it through
Perhaps even more shocking than Heroic’s qualification was that of North, given their recent roster overhaul. While the talent brought in was seen as solid, the removal of both CajunB – one of the most consistent AWPers in the game – as well as k0nfig – one of the games brightest stars – left many concerned about the short term for North. North had to battle through the lower bracket after their 1-2 loss to Heroic, beginning with a narrow 2-1 over AGO Esports, one of the lower-tier teams at this event.
Their next match against Na`Vi, who were riding high off a good showing at the Major, is where North began to prove themselves, winning 2-1, including a 16-14 on the rarely-played Nuke, and put their final opponents of HellRaisers on notice. HellRaisers were one of the dark horses entering the tournament, with bondik returning to the lineup to support the likes of woxic and ANGE1. While fairly close on every map, North were able to pull off the 2-1 win (11-16, 16-14, 16-10) to push themselves through. North’s future is unknown as chemistry continues to develop for the new players, but their map pool should continue to be a strength.
Gambit knock off mousesports
The other team to make it through the lower bracket were Gambit Esports, one of the pre-qualifier favourites to snag a qualifying berth. Gambit have been playing with seized in place of fitch, with the team performing at a decent level for some time. The 0-2 loss to Heroic was incredibly concerning, especially since Gambit’s opponent in the lower bracket ended up being fellow favourite mousesports. However, Gambit ultimately took care of business in the close 2-1 (10-16, 16-11, 16-13) triumph.
The future for Gambit is unknown, especially given the overall questions of seized’s inclusion in the lineup, coupled with the stunning news of H0bbit becoming the in-game leader. Most players struggle when transitioning between roles, let alone transitioning into a leadership and strategic-based position that takes countless hours outside the game to hone their expertise. Placing their best performing player in H0bbit into that role appears to have been a mistake, with questions about their overall play looming. Should this role change miraculously fit H0bbit, in a similar vein to Tarik on Cloud9, then Gambit could be a threat to make a deep run at this IEM World Championship.
All in all, an interesting group of teams have made it through to the World Championship later in the month, with Fnatic the clear leader in overall quality. Attention now turns to the Spodek Arena in Katowice later this month, where the qualifiers join seven top teams already invited in search of the $500,000 prize pool.
