IEM Road to Rio 2022 Europe Open Qualifier 2

fnatic, forZe, K23, and Monte qualify for Europe RMR

22-8-2022 01:17

William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman's squad came out victorious from a close match against HAVU to lock in their spot at the RMR.

Four teams have confirmed their attendance at the upcoming IEM Rio Europe RMR from the second set of open qualifiers. fnatic, FORZE, Monte, and K23 are set to attend the event and fight for a spot at the Major after securing a spot in the top four, joining the four other teams who qualified from the first open bracket on the team list.

The advancing teams reached the quarter-finals of the online tournament after going through six rounds of single-elimination best-of-ones across two days. The qualifying matches were played in a best-of-three format while the upcoming seeding matches will also be best-of-ones.

fnatic made it through after four sets of overtime on Nuke

Monte were the first team to qualify following their 2-0 victory over Endpoint. The European mix made their way to the quarter-final after victories over eSuba and LDLC, setting up a match between Mohammad "⁠BOROS⁠" Malhas and his old squad. Max "⁠MiGHTYMAX⁠" Heath's men conceded Mirage before collapsing on the CT side of Overpass despite Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye and Joey "⁠CRUC1AL⁠" Steusel's exemplary performances on the map.

The second team to punch their ticket to the event was K23 as the Russian squad comfortably dispatched 1win in the seventh round of the qualifiers. Timur "⁠clax⁠" Sabirov and Bogdan "⁠xsepower⁠" Chernikov pushed their team to victory in the Russian derby, sending them into the semi-final.

GamerLegion faced the likes of Anonymo and EYEBALLERS to secure a spot in the qualification match against FORZE. The Russian squad barely made it out through their map against UNGENTIUM, but turned it up against the European mix, eliminating them after an excellent 2-0 sweep.

The last team to secure their attendance in the Regional Major Ranking event was fnatic after their narrow victory against HAVU. The mezii-led squad went to the very last round on Mirage and all the way to four sets of overtime on Nuke before securing their spot in the RMR.

The teams participating at the EU RMR are currently:

Europe

Open Qualifier 3

Open Qualifier 4

Open Qualifier 3

Open Qualifier 4

EZ for Falcons

2022-08-22 01:20

24 replies

Asstralis realizing EU isnt so easy when daddy blast isnt inviting you to everything

2022-08-22 02:08

23 replies

they literally just won their whole group

2022-08-22 07:46

20 replies

fluke, they won't qualify for fall final

2022-08-22 08:19

16 replies

Even if it was a fluke (which I don't think it was), Astralis is still a safe top 10 team and should be making it out to the Major. If they can't, it would prove to me that this online open qualifier is just not good. Losing one bo1 to a real fluke and being out is just not representative of who's the better team and deserves to be at the Major.

2022-08-22 08:54

15 replies

you operating bo1 in open qual as 'bad system' but saying that bo1 in blast matters. they most unstable team in top 10 means worst team in top 10. you can't be a good team without consistancy. (and obv. if you can't win some noname random stack) they in top 5 now only by their fluke wins and roster changes, frankly they should be out of top 10

2022-08-22 09:02

14 replies

The fact that you have teams like Astralis, Apeks and HEET all losing to random no name teams shows the format is problematic. It doesn't get any more random than a tier1 team playing a tier 4 team in a bo1. The metas are completely different and the tier1 team has to try and adapt to a completely random dumb style.

2022-08-22 09:15

11 replies

apeks top62 heet top26 astralis top4 see the difference? you can't lose those games if you top 4 in the world. rest of good teams qualifed already to tournament: mouz, falcons, sprout, fnatic, froze, k23. i would understand if they had lost to one of them for example, but they lost to the guys, who in next round lost to another noname stack who then lost 16:2 to K23. it's not format problem, it's just astralis washed and fluke team who depends on the fact that farlig konfig and blamef will play good, and that happens two times in ten games

2022-08-22 09:22

10 replies

If Astralis was washed and a fluke team, they wouldn't get to the semi-finals of Cologne. No way that in a BO3 series Astralis would lose to any of these teams they faced. Problem with online BO1 is that you just need one guy to have a really good game to win. Astralis doesn't know what a random team placed 150th is going to do, so they can't prepare. The difference between top 10 in the world and top 200 in the world is rarely pure skill, but mostly the ability to prepare and strategies against other teams. The environment is just not good for consistent outcomes. There will be massive upsets happening in BO1, and Astralis has had the bad end of the stick twice now. You're acting like having these same matches on LAN wouldn't make a difference. That's just simply not true.

2022-08-22 10:13

9 replies

not excuse for top 4 team. again. why everyone else qualified? semi finals at cologne was exact fluke that i'm talking about. just one lucky run through the bracket. literally every event some team that you didn't expect goes far. if you don't want to play bo1 openqual play well at previous major. and still. they lost to some dogshit team that they had to beat 16 0. as i already said if their trio (konfig, blamef and farlig) don't play well they lose miserably. thats exactly what you saying. if astralis rely on 2-3 of their players to play insane game to win and not on some strat that noname team don't have then astralis WASHED

2022-08-22 11:02

5 replies

I'm not saying Astralis isn't washed and that it's not their fault at all. I'm saying that Astralis SHOULD beat these teams and would do so in other circumstances. And I personally don't think a team that made it to the Challenger stage should have to go through the full Open Qualifier. Personally I would put them in the BO3 section of the Open Qualifier or even just in the Closed Qualifier. In the same way I think it's BS that the everyone has to go through the Closed Qualifier as well. Faze and Na'Vi earned their spot by being in the finals of the previous Major. That's their qualifier. The Cologne top 4 wasn't really a fluke. They got lucky with the teams they were facing. They lost to the better teams, won against the weaker teams. The only match you could say they 'fluked' was vs C9

2022-08-22 12:20

4 replies

nah. it could be fluke at major, so it's fair to have qualifiers for everyone. and it won't be fair to team that fucked up last major to have advantage in qualifiers

2022-08-22 12:19

3 replies

You can't fluke a Major to the extent you're thinking. You won't see a top 16 team win. Even the biggest fluke finals were at least top 8 teams at the time. The Major is also a qualifier in itself. Not only that, but you keep continuity throughout the history of CS. The system of the Closed Qualifier (and all other pre-playoff stages) make it so that you could very easily have a tournament decided by one or two BO1's. Then suddenly you have a Na'Vi vs Faze Quarter Finals and a shit Finals. Hell, Challenger Stage in Antwerp had Liquid vs Astralis for a spot at the Major, because of poor seeding and Imperial fluking a BO1 vs Liquid. The qualifier matches were forZe vs Imperial, BNE vs MIBR and Astralis vs Liquid. The two best teams facing each other. I just don't like the system in general.

2022-08-22 12:28

2 replies

1. when gambit won major 2. if they would do it your way there would be less new teams at scene, cuz many slots would be occupated by teams who couldn't even pass chalenger stage 3. its astralis problem that they've lost to vitality and spirit and then couldn't win dead roster of liquid. blame system for this = being braindead (btw two best team who end up 2-2 in challenger stage is funny joke) 4. it's not about like you system or not, fact is a fact, if team can't qualify with 4 chances vs random stacks that team doesn't deserve to be at major. (same for antwerp major, if team losing 3 out of 5 games that team DOESN'T DESERVE to be in legend stage)

2022-08-22 12:55

1 reply

1. One fluke out of a dozen+ Majors. Good job! 2. Yet for the majority of the Majors the whole top 8 was guaranteed a spot at the next one. I'm saying AT LEAST the finalists should be guaranteed. Oh no! Two teams who'll do nothing at the Major can't qualify! 3. Their loss to Vitality is their problem, but the seeding is the reason it even came that far. Spirit was just better, sure. And what I meant was that of the 6 remaining, the two best teams in the 2-2 part were Astralis and Liquid. 4. That's what you think. Meanwhile, I look at overall results for Astralis , and while they aren't top 4, they are definitely in the top 10 teams in the world right now. You hit me up when those random teams get even close to a map win in Cologne. I never claimed Astralis was the best team and shouldn't be faulted for losing to these teams. I claim that the system is shit and Astralis is right now getting the worst of it. That being said. If they don't make with 4 chances, I will doubt them. But it's just a general problem with BO1 deciding "who's best". The only reason they don't do BO3 for that, btw, is because of time restrictions. Because BO3 is strictly better at making consistent results. There are definitely semi-mix teams out there that can upset top teams for just one BO1.

2022-08-22 20:47

All you can talk about is that "asstralis can't anti-strat a top300/UNRANKED team that studied their demos 24/7 for past 3 months preparing for a bo1 MIRAGE game. Asstralis' core (dignitas/tsm/astralis) device, dupreeh, xyp9x, after 2017 gla1ve, dupreeh, xyp9x, device and after Starladder berlin 2019 gla1ve, xyp9x, dupreeh was in every major since Katowice 2014, why? Because they were going to playoffswhich guarantees a spot at the next major, later on they got RMR invite and qualified through there. No issue, yeah my team is at the ajor, but oh no, what happened in ANTWERP??? WHAT, THEY DIDN'T MAKE IT?? NOOO, I WANT ASSTRALIS IN MAJOR. No, they didn't make it to the next stage SO THEY NEED TO QUALIFY LIKE EVERY OTHER TEAM THAT QUALIFIED FOR A MAJOR SINCE 2014, through open qualifiers, 8 years took you to cry about a system that potentially "ruined" great teams because it's bo1 online bla bla crying emoji. System stays, astralis either qualifies or doesn't. Astralis stuck in their little precious bubble of playing against top10 teams over and over again in partnered leagues finally popped. Remember how everyone was making fun of CPHF after stockholm that they were losing to "tier 3 teams" in online cups? Yeah, that's what asstralis is experiencing right now and it's their fault alone that they are in this position.

2022-08-22 11:13

I just think that a team that made the Challenger Stage shouldn't have to go through the full Open Qualifier. At least put them in the BO3 stage. And if they then don't make it through, it's on them. Astralis is washed, sure. But they still deserve a spot at the Closed Qualifier at least. The problem is that BO1's are just super volatile by nature. A team can have 2 guys just popping off, and you play your normal game and can't do anything about it. Not saying Astralis shouldn't win. But this system is notorious for giving really good teams trouble to get into the Major. It's not like this problem hasn't been mentioned in the past 8 years. It just hasn't been a big name like Astralis to make people listen.

2022-08-22 12:18

do you really think those random stacks just casually preparing for Astralis and watching their demos? When there are 100+ teams in OQ. Their best tactic probably 'rush B' and best counter tactic 'not push'. Even if they studied Astralis(which is clearly not) so what? Astralis top tier team (by your opinion) they should have counterstrat on counterstrat. And they have obviously more strats then those random stacks who probably playing their first game together

2022-08-22 13:00

but they are definately top24 team in the world and deserve to be in the major

2022-08-22 09:49

i'm not saying they're not. that part of the thread wasn't about it to begin with

2022-08-22 09:56

No they lost 1 game

2022-08-22 08:44

2 games

2022-08-22 10:36

ok? they still won their group, i didn't say anything about them not losing

2022-08-22 17:25

2022-08-22 09:54

This is even funnier with the context of them skipping every ESL event for Blast events back in 2018/19

2022-08-22 15:46

ez for monte and fnatic

2022-08-22 01:18

Nt havu better luck next time!

Havu will meet astralis and send them HOME in 3rd qualifier.

2022-08-22 11:14

that fnatic match against sprout was great

+1 wtf :DD

2022-08-22 01:19

Wait what? Fnatic played against sprout? Or Im guessing that the article made a mistake and you are making fun of it? Hahahah

2022-08-22 16:40

ez for joelxd

ah yes, fnatic VS sprout, what a match

LETS GO FALCONS

Let’s go fnatic!

Mistake in the article. Before the match against Havu, Fnatic had to beat AGO.

2022-08-22 01:21

Happy that Fnatic got it, but disappointed to see Endpoint fall at the final hurdle (and not even a 5th spot decider so they have to go through the whole thing again now) Oh well, 2 more chances for Endpoint and Into the Breach, very doable

2022-08-22 01:22

ez for itb

2022-08-22 01:28

not sure about ITB but endpoint should qualify there are 11 more spots

2022-08-22 10:11

Can't wait to see cheaters get demolished on LAN

2022-08-22 01:24

8 replies

Sorry, who are cheaters exactly?

2022-08-22 13:07

Demqq aka radarfromsky jr. Cheat2k - no explanation needed here Joel - kid who scammed 100k+ in skins and he's cheating as well

2022-08-22 13:48

Heard about first one. Will look closer to the rest. Just curious :)

2022-08-22 14:07

Demqq and woro are well known cheaters in the community. Joel case is interesting considering there is no evidence of his scams but it's well known he scammed huge ammounts of many to pay out his gambling debts probably

2022-08-22 14:14

Thx for info

2022-08-22 14:17

What teams/players are cheating?

2022-08-22 13:33

#70

Omg how do they get away with it?

2022-08-22 21:58

Wtf how is Group A so much more stacked

2022-08-22 01:37

they aren't sorted rn

2022-08-22 02:00

ah i see now, good

2022-08-22 14:35

fnatic so trash

2022-08-22 01:38

Excited to see Joel on lan

2022-08-22 01:48

2022-08-22 07:14

I arent think that

2022-08-22 08:30

2022-08-22 10:23

why?

2022-08-22 11:46

old hltv joke

2022-08-22 12:16

RIP ACOR :( HE DESERVES A SPOT ON ASTRALIS

2022-08-22 01:53

Expected from forZe

2022-08-22 02:09

FNATIC IS BACK BABY

2022-08-22 02:27

gj Monte and fnatic

2022-08-22 02:28

The other two did no good job?

2022-08-22 03:05

forZe is a solid team, you kinda expect them to make it but K23 is also promising

2022-08-22 14:46

Europe RMR - more like CIS RMR

2022-08-22 02:47

lets go fantic 🙂

2022-08-22 02:49

Entropigs and a few other RU teams come on in, show 'em

2022-08-22 03:06

Entropiq looks like ass, same with 1win and Nemiga. There are more chances for 9 Pandas, premghouls and Neon Rangers than for these teams

2022-08-22 04:48

I'm confused as to why the first qualifier had 5 spots, 2nd has 4, 3rd has 5 and 4th has 6. Why not have 5 throughout. Also in the article you say "they will join the other 4 teams" when 5 teams qualified from last qualifier.

2022-08-22 03:11

The second qulas have only 4 slots, so that tomorrow the teams that got through can play for seeding and the ones who are already out can play the third quals

2022-08-22 04:47

Makes sense now

2022-08-22 08:32

Ez 4 monte

2022-08-22 05:04

Ez 4 monte and god Woro2K

2022-08-22 06:41

WHERE ASTRALIS LUL

2022-08-22 08:25

Major not hosted by blast so they are not invited🤡🤡🤡

2022-08-22 08:45

2 more chances - it's impossible for astralis not to qualify lol

2022-08-22 11:16

6 replies

When is next qualifier match for Astralis?

2022-08-22 13:38

Open qualifier #3 starts today @ 18.00

2022-08-22 14:54

When does Astralis play?

2022-08-22 21:57

Nevermind they just updated it and they play tomorrow at 12

2022-08-23 00:53

1 more XD

2022-08-23 20:41

Yes, now it's their final chance since they blew it yesterday. This time the strongest teams will have qualified so their opponents will be weaker ones, but they will have a busy schedule on friday and saturday with both Blast and open qualifier so thei will have some fatigue. BUT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THEM NOT TO QUALIFY :D LOL

2022-08-24 09:54