eNergy defeat Goliath; qualify for Asia Minor

Energy have taken down Goliath 2-1 in the Asia Minor CSA Closed Qualifier grand final to book their spot at the Asia Minor.

Goliath steamrolled their way through to the Asia Minor CSA Closed Qualifier grand final without dropping a single map in the process, defeating ViNCO, TOLY, and Energy along the way.

Following defeat to Goliath in the upper bracket final, Energy set up a matchup against lower bracket finalists Sinister5, who they took down swiftly to set up a rematch with Goliath for a spot at the Asia Minor.

Energy began the series in dominant fashion, cruising to an 8-0 start in the opening map, Inferno. Despite Goliath’s best efforts, they were unable to stabilise and take any control playing catch-up for the remainder of the map, eventually losing out 16-13.

Nuke followed, and with the comfort of their own map pick, Goliath found their footing in the matchup. The South African side sped into half-time with a 13-2 lead and their confidence at an all-time high. Picking up the final three rounds on the Terrorist side, Goliath secured Nuke dominantly 16-5, with Willie "⁠Consp1racy⁠" van Graan notably putting up a 1.61 rating across the map.

The matchup concluded on Train, where Energy started on the CT side. Despite losing the opening three rounds, Energy were undeterred as they went on to attain 12 rounds consecutively to take a 12-3 lead at the halfway mark. Goliath refused to drop the ball in the second half as they locked down eight rounds on the defense. The score difference proved too large, however, as Energy were able to hold onto their first-half lead to win out the map 16-11, and the series 2-1, to book their spot at the Asia Minor.

With Energy's qualification, the team list for the Asia Minor currently looks as follows: