The first closed qualifier for ESL One Rio came to its conclusion. The South American region produced the first pair of participants in the Minors – BOOM Esports and RED Canids.
First teams confirmed for the ESL One Rio Americas Minor
The South American closed qualifier was remarkable in one way at the very least – just three of the thirteen series played included a third map. In this marathon of one-sidedness, BOOM Esports and RED Canids were the ones to reach the finish line.
RED Canids were among the main “culprits” as they unapologetically won every map they were involved in against W7M Gaming, Team One and Isurus. BOOM’s path was sliiightly different. They lost their very first game to Team One and needed to go all the way from the first match in the loser bracket to the last.
BOOM, as I already spoiled, did exactly that. They first took out W7M, then played in one of the rare three-map games vs. Imperial, then got their revenge over Team One to reach the lower bracket final. The only non-Brazilian roster in the qualifier – Isurus, who had already lost the upper bracket final, couldn’t to the job again and it will be up to Brazil to represent South America in the Minors.
An interesting note to make is that three former Made in Brazil players are playing on the teams that got through the closed qualifier. João "felps" Vasconcellos and Ricardo “boltz” Prass are on the BOOM roster, and Lincoln “fnx” Lau is turning up for RED Canids.
The Americas Minor is scheduled for April 26 – May 2. There will be eight competitors present, with the remaining six all coming from the North American closed qualifier, which will be played over the next three days – March 7-9.
