Wildcard secure final spot in IEM Chengdu NA closed qualifier

stanislaw’s troops join Liquid in qualifying for the four-team double-elimination bracket.

Wildcard move on to the closed qualifier

Wildcard have locked up the last spot in the North American closed qualifier for IEM Chengdu after topping the second open qualifier on January 18. They will now join M80, Liquid and BOSS in a double-elimination bracket for the chance to attend the Chinese event.

Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz’s side, who had lost to Liquid in the quarter-finals of the first open qualifier, had to work hard to beat Mythic in the Round of 16 but then breezed past MIGHT and NRG to set up a grand final match against Nouns.

With the wind in their sails after emphatic wins over Legacy US, Zomblers and Rocket, Nouns took the lead in the series with a 13-7 Overpass victory. Wildcard responded with a blowout win on Nuke, where Keller "⁠SLIGHT⁠" Nilan led the charge with a 1.73 rating, before completing the reverse sweep on Inferno with a 2.02-rated performance by Gage "⁠Infinite⁠" Green.

IEM Chengdu 2024 North America Open Qualifier 2Best of 3

Wildcard

Matchpage

2

1

19th January 2024

Nouns

7

Overpass

13

13

Nuke

3

13

Inferno

7

Wildcard	K - D	Swing	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Gage 'Infinite' GreenInfinite	53 - 36	+0.51%	103.4	80.4%	1.49
Aran 'Sonic' GroesbeekSonic	52 - 37	+3.79%	83.3	78.6%	1.33
Keller 'SLIGHT' NilanSLIGHT	39 - 33	+2.44%	69.0	85.7%	1.14
Josh 'JBa' BaruttJBa	32 - 32	-0.50%	63.6	83.9%	1.11
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguzstanislaw	31 - 36	+0.38%	66.6	80.4%	1.07

Nouns	K - D	Swing	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' JonescJ dA K1nG	39 - 43	+0.10%	82.2	66.1%	1.03
Jeorge 'Jeorge' EndicottJeorge	34 - 41	-1.96%	70.1	71.4%	0.93
Carson 'nosraC' O'ReillynosraC	31 - 44	-0.11%	68.8	66.1%	0.89
Edgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoMarKE	37 - 40	-0.85%	59.4	69.6%	0.89
Paytyn 'junior' Johnsonjunior	28 - 39	-3.79%	59.5	71.4%	0.82

The run through the open qualifier, days after taking Liquid to their limit in an overtime game, only confirms Wildcard's status as a team on the rise in North America. Last week, they punched their ticket to the Americas RMR with a 3-0 record in the closed qualifier, beating Vagrants, BOSS and M80.

The North American closed qualifier will run from January 19-20 and feature a best-of-three format throughout the double-elimination playoffs. Only the winner will qualify for IEM Chengdu, a $250,000 tournament that will kick off one week after PGL Major Copenhagen.

The full schedule for the closed qualifier is as follows:

Date	Matches
IEM Chengdu 2024 North America Closed Qualifier
19/01/2024	M80 23:30 Wildcard	Match
19/01/2024	Liquid 23:30 BOSS	Match
20/01/2024	Wildcard 03:30 Liquid	Match
20/01/2024	M80 03:30 BOSS	Match
20/01/2024	Wildcard 23:30 M80	Match
21/01/2024	Liquid 03:30 M80	Match