Chiefs, Grayhound secure IEM Sydney spots

ORDER, one of the teams didn't take part in the recent Oceanic shuffle, was the favorite moving into the match against Chiefs, who just added Mike "⁠ap0c⁠" Aliferis as a replacement for Liam "⁠malta⁠" Schembri, and played three maps versus Corvidae in the first match of the qualifier.

Cobblestone started great for Chris "⁠emagine⁠" Rowlands and co., as they quickly ran up a 7-2 lead as Counter-Terrorists. Chiefs were able to break the trend there and go on a streak of five rounds won, ending the half with a minimal, 8-7 advantage. After Chiefs took an 11-7 lead thanks to the second pistol going their way, ORDER got back into the game. Simon "⁠Sico⁠" Williams was causing his opponents trouble, racking up AWP kills, but he was outshined by ap0c in the end, whose 35 frags carried Chiefs to a 16-14 win.

Chiefs return to IEM Sydney, but only tucks remains from the squad that upset North in 2017

The second map was much more straightforward, ORDER won the starting pistol round but Chiefs struck back with the force buy to establish themselves on the CT side of Train. Tyler "⁠tucks⁠" Reilly' side dropped a few rounds, but never allowed ORDER to follow up on them, which saw them finish the first half 11-4 up. ORDER had a 6-1 streak at the start of the second half, but with Matthew "⁠Texta⁠" O'Rourke joining ap0c at the top of the scoreboard, Chiefs were able to close it out 16-10 and qualify for IEM Sydney.

IEM Sydney 2018 Oceania Closed QualifierBest of 3

ORDER

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Chiefs

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Cobblestone

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Train

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ORDER	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Simon 'Sico' WilliamsSico	43 - 37	+6	76.3	67.9%	1.14
Jay 'Liazz' TregillgasLiazz	35 - 39	-4	73.7	71.4%	1.01
Chris 'emagine' Rowlandsemagine	40 - 44	-4	74.1	71.4%	0.99
Jordan 'Hatz' BajicHatz	34 - 39	-5	77.1	64.3%	0.97
Alistair 'aliStair' JohnstonaliStair	26 - 43	-17	58.6	62.5%	0.70

Chiefs	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Mike 'ap0c' Aliferisap0c	59 - 34	+25	97.2	76.8%	1.49
Matthew 'Texta' O'RourkeTexta	36 - 43	-7	83.0	67.9%	1.08
Sam 'flickz' Jonesflickz	36 - 32	+4	74.1	71.4%	1.07
Tyler 'tucks' Reillytucks	37 - 36	+1	70.8	76.8%	1.03
Euan 'sterling' Mooresterling	34 - 33	+1	53.6	71.4%	0.97

Grayhound, also fresh off a roster change—having added malta—, took on Legacy OCE in the deciding match of the qualifier. Erdenetsogt "⁠erkaSt⁠" Gantulga's team kicked off Overpass strongly, took a 3-0 lead as T, dropped the first gun round, but instantly struck back to reset the CT's. Grayhound continued bullying the defensive side from there, grabbing a 12-1 lead before Legacy OCE was able to pull it back to 12-3 for the half. Egor "⁠LONSDALE⁠" Baranov's team managed to take the second pistol and start a comeback attempt on the Terrorist side, but Grayhound was able to stop it in the end, taking Overpass 16-12.

The CT issues Grayhound had on Overpass were nowhere to be seen on Mirage, as Ollie "⁠DickStacy⁠" Tierney and co. were able to lock Legacy OCE out completely there. Finishing the first half 12-3, Grayhound had no issues closing out the game, taking it 16-3 to secure a spot in Sydney.

IEM Sydney 2018 Oceania Closed QualifierBest of 3

Grayhound

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Legacy OCE

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Overpass

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Mirage

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With these results, Grayhound and Chiefs have made the $250,000 tournament that will take place on May 1-6. The final spot for the tournament will be decided by the lower-bracket of the Oceania Qualifier, with the likes of Tainted Minds and ORDER wying for the slot.

The team list for IEM Sydney 2018 now looks like this:

SK	FaZe
MOUZ	fnatic
Natus Vincere	Astralis
Cloud9	Renegades
Space Soldiers	NRG
TYLOO	MVP PK
BOOT-d[S]	Chiefs
Grayhound	Oceania #3