Heretics send OG to Europe Minor closed qualifier lower bracket

OG's start in the Europe Minor closed qualifier has gone awry after Heretics stunned the European side to send them to the lower bracket of the tournament.

The French side put on a convincing performance in the opening round of the closed qualifier with a swift victory over the Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen-led squad, winning the series 2-0 with 16-9 scorelines on Dust2 and Mirage.

Matched up against the second-lowest-ranked team of the qualifier in the opening round, OG had been a big favorite not only in the series but the tournament as a whole as currently the world's 16th-best side, a position they earned following their successful run at BLAST Premier in February.

The European mixture now need to win two series in a row in the lower bracket to make up for the poor start and qualify for the Europe Minor. Their next opponent will be another heavy underdog, KOVA, who made it through to the closed part as one of the surprises of the open qualifiers.

So far, the other favorites who have already played their matches have been successful; in the first half of the opening round, fnatic, Dignitas, and HEROIC advanced to the spot-deciding upper bracket quarter-finals after wins over SMASH, Movistar Riders, and KOVA, respectively.

The rest of the opening round will follow from 15:00 . Four names advancing to the Europe Minor undefeated will be known by the end of Saturday, while Sunday will see the lower bracket play out and decide the other four participants.