With the second open qualifier coming to an end, four teams have advanced to the IEM Katowice closed qualifier, which will have three spots at the $250,000 event on offer. The first open qualifier took place two weeks ago, with GODSENT and HEROIC claiming their spot in the closed qualifier. In the second, which was played over the last two days, four closed qualifier spots were on offer. 255 teams fought in the single-elimination, best-of-one bracket for their place in the deciding quarter-finals, played in best-of-three series. The quarter-finals saw Tricked taking down Copenhagen Flames, who eliminated Kinguin in the round of 32, while BIG beat ALTERNATE aTTaX and Epsilon edged Team123. After eXtatus defeated FlipSid3 and Vega Squadron in the deciding series, ESL disqualified the Slovakian-Czech lineup due to 14-year-old David "frozen" Čerňanský, as the age restriction in the rulebook is set at 16 years. Instead, FlipSid3 faced Vega Squadron at the end of the day, and Andrey "B1ad3" Gorodenskiy's side clinched the last spot following three maps. With the aforementioned four joining the closed qualifier's team list, it is now the following: The closed qualifier, where the aforementioned 11 teams will battle for three spots at IEM Katowice, will take place from February 4-5.
gob b's BIG advanced to the closed qualifier Natus Vincere
Envy
G2
fnatic
MOUZ
GODSENT
HEROIC
Tricked
Epsilon
BIG
FlipSid3
eXtatus #61
Richard 'queztone' Strnátko
Jindřich 'ZEDKO' Chyba
Patrik 'DEV7L' Stuchlík
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Martin 'MonttY' Melišek
Copenhagen Flames #101
Max 'neon' Mazur
Mosaver 'doktizh' Bandri
Ismail 'refrezh' Ali
Victor 'Andkilde' Andkilde
Casper 'Celrate' Andersen
Kinguin #17
Grzegorz 'SZPERO' Dziamałek
Karol 'rallen' Rodowicz
Michał 'MICHU' Müller
Mikołaj 'mouz' Karolewski
Damian 'Furlan' Kislowski
Vega Squadron #29
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov
Dmitriy 'jR' Chervak
Sergey 'keshandr' Nikishin
Nikolay 'mir' Bityukov
Pavel 'hutji' Lashkov
fnatic #8
Olof 'olofmeister' Kajbjer
Dennis 'dennis' Edman
Simon 'twist' Eliasson
Freddy 'KRIMZ' Johansson
Joakim 'disco doplan' Gidetun
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Age: 14 Team: eXtatus Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 97 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.69
G2 #13
Richard 'shox' Papillon
Cédric 'RpK' Guipouy
Edouard 'SmithZz' Dubourdeaux
Adil 'ScreaM' Benrlitom
Alexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro
Natus Vincere #9
Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev
Ladislav 'GuardiaN' Kovács
Denis 'seized' Kostin
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyev
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev
Envy #10
Christophe 'SIXER' Xia
Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub
Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Vincent 'Happy' Schopenhauer
FlipSid3 #19
Yegor 'markeloff' Markelov
Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy
Georgi 'WorldEdit' Yaskin
Jan 'wayLander' Rahkonen
Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov
MOUZ #15
Tomáš 'oskar' Šťastný
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Christian 'loWel' Garcia Antoran
Timo 'Spiidi' Richter
Denis 'denis' Howell
HEROIC #22
Andreas 'MODDII' Fridh
Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer
Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangså
Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensen
Casper 'cadiaN' Møller
Tricked #51
Nicolai 'HUNDEN' Petersen
Lasse 'maeVe' Elgaard
Patrick 'es3tag' Hansen
Asger 'AcilioN' Larsen
Johannes 'b0RUP' Borup
GODSENT #14
Markus 'pronax' Wallsten
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquist
Andreas 'znajder' Lindberg
Jesper 'JW' Wecksell
Jonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson
Team123 #97
Rasmus 'SandeN' Sanden
Christian 'rezex' Bjerregaard
Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen
Daniel 'mertz' Mertz
Frederik 'acoR' Gyldstrand
Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy
Age: 30 Team: FlipSid3 Rating 1.0: 0.84 Maps played: 707 KPR: 0.59 DPR: 0.73
BIG #26
Fatih 'gob b' Dayik
Nikola 'LEGIJA' Ninić
Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz
Kevin 'keev' Bartholomäus
Johannes 'nex' Maget
Epsilon #23
André 'BARBARR' Möller
Karl-William 'kalle' Haraldsen
William 'draken' Sundin
Fredrik 'freddieb' Buö
Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner
ALTERNATE aTTaX #55
Christian 'crisby' Schmitt
Tizian 'tiziaN' Feldbusch
Florian 'syrsoN' Rische
Oskar 'oskarish' Stenborowski
Lukas 'ecfN' Kauer