Dignitas, BIG move on to EU Minor closed qualifier

Dignitas and BIG are through to the closed qualifier for the Europe Minor after coming through the first open bracket.

In a display of poise and maturity, Dignitas were able to live up to the hype surrounding their line-up as they finished top-two in the grueling open bracket in their first tournament.

The reunion of the old NiP gang was a moment to celebrate, but the player who had everyone talking was Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli. The Norwegian AWPer, formerly of Nordavind, was in incredible form on the last day of the qualifier as he topped the scoreboard in the triple-overtime affair against GamerLegion and in the three-map series against Sprout to send Dignitas to the closed stage.

hallzerk averaged a 1.35 rating in the final stages of the qualifier

The other side of the bracket culminated in a nail-biting series between Complexity, another team with lofty expectations on their shoulders, and BIG, who are riding the wave of their DreamHack Leipzig success.

Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer's troops, who had scraped past SKADE in the quarter-final stage, took the lead in the series with a solid Mirage performance before Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş came to BIG's rescue with some stellar play on Inferno and Dust2, two maps where Complexity could not even hit double digits.

The closed qualifier for the Europe Minor will run from March 7-8, with eight spots at the $50,000 event on offer. The team list currently looks as follows:

fnatic
Ninjas in Pyjamas
HEROIC
MAD Lions
Dignitas
EU qualifier #2
EU qualifier #3
EU qualifier #4

GODSENT
OG
Movistar Riders
Heretics
BIG
EU qualifier #2
EU qualifier #3
EU qualifier #4

The qualifying process for the Minor will continue on Tuesday with the second open bracket. Teams can sign up for that tournament and for the next two by clicking the links below:

Open Qualifier #2 (February 4-5) - Register
Open Qualifier #3 (February 8-9) - Register
Open Qualifier #4 (February 12-13) - Register