Camel Riders qualify for Asia Minor as Aequus forfeit decider map in protest

Camel Riders qualified for the Asia Minor as Aequus decided to forfeit the last half of the closed qualifier's grand final decider map when down 3-12 citing ESL's policy regarding server usage.

A tumultuous closed qualifier marred by technical issues regarding server locations and routing from different countries has come to an end. The final match pitted Camel Riders, who made it through the upper bracket with victories over the two Israeli teams in the qualifiers, Aequus and Finest, against former of the two, who fought through the lower bracket beating JustPassingBy, Goliath, Finest and Yalla on the road to the final.

The match started on Vertigo, Camel Riders’ pick, where they had an automatic 1-0 advantage in the series due to making their way to the final through the upper bracket. They won the first pistol round on the CT side, but were quickly on the back foot after losing the first gun round as Aequus managed to quickly take charge 3-2 before it was tied back up. The Israeli team took control of the half from thereon out on the server that favored them, only allowing the CTs to sprinkle a couple more rounds before the half, going up 10-5 at the switch.

Aequus successfully retook a B plant in the second pistol round to increase their lead to 11-5, only letting Camel Riders win a single round before Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan denied Omar "⁠JOKER⁠" Aldaradkeh a 1vs3 clutch to get on match point, 15-6, and eventually closing the map out 16-6 to tie the series up.

On a Dubai server Camel Riders got off to a flying start on the CT side of Dust2, tallying nine rounds before Aequus, who had nearly 200 more ping than their adversaries, could even reply, winning the half 11-4. The second half didn’t fare much better for Aequus, who lost the pistol round to an A rush and were only able to tally one successful defense with a double spraydown by the two B defenders Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi and Daniel "⁠ponkt⁠" Punkt in the first gun round, but were unable to hold Camel Riders back as they closed map two out, 16-5.

Aequus were able to turn a lost pistol round on the attacking side of Inferno around to go up 5-1 in what seemed would be another one-sided half, but a team effort by Camel Riders brought them back to a tie, 5-5, before a strike to the B site put Aequus ahead as they went on to win the half 9-6. The second pistol round also went the way of Aequus after a successful A retake as they were able to go on to close the map out without much opposition 16-8.

Camel Riders went up 2-0 on the defending side of Overpass, and were able to keep their lead after the first gun round thanks to a 1vs2 clutch by Yosef "⁠Ttyke⁠" Abdullah. Aequus were able to get on the board in the fifth round and followed it up as ponkt won a 1vs1 afterplant to make it 2-4. They then won an anti-eco, but that would be it as Camel Riders took control and closed out the half 12-3.

Finally, the Israeli team forfeited the map and match during halftime, as they didn't see any chances of winning the decider on the Dubai server, making Camel Riders the Middle East Closed Qualifier winners.

The Asia Minor Middle East Closed Qualifier final standings are:

1. Camel Riders - Asia Minor
2. Aequus
3. Yalla
4. Finest
5-6. ATK
5-6. Goliath
7-8. NASR
7-8. JustPassingBy

The teams qualified for the Asia Minor so far: