Espionage, Nemiga clinch final IEM Chengdu EU closed qualifier spots

Another lackluster qualifier from the likes of NIP, ENCE, BLEED, and KOI leaves the teams out of contention for a spot in China.

Lucky and company are through to the closed stage

Espionage and Nemiga have advanced to the Europe closed qualifier for IEM Chengdu after emerging victorious from the second open bracket.

The teams scored wins over Insilio and RUBY in their respective qualifying games, and now join four invited teams and the first open qualifier victors, Guild Eagles and AMKAL, in a double-elimination bracket where one spot at the Chinese event is up for grabs.

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Guild Eagles, AMKAL make IEM Chengdu closed qualifier

Over 600 teams took part in the second open bracket, which featured a multitude of upsets akin to the first qualifier. Among the long list of notable names who fell were Ninjas in Pyjamas, BLEED, KOI, PARIVISION, and ENCE, none of whom could make it to the HLTV-covered Round of 16, while teams like GODSENT, Alliance, and Endpoint were also shot down early.

Nemiga faced difficult opposition in their run to a spot, dispatching of Endpoint, Aurora, 9 Pandas, and Sprout in the best-of-one rounds before securing a 2-0 over RUBY to qualify.

Espionage, meanwhile, recorded notable wins over Sangal, Illuminar, and FORZE to reach the qualifying round, where they needed all three maps to defeat Insilio, who had confidence running high after beating fnatic in their previous match.

The IEM Chengdu Europe closed qualifier is set to run from February 8-10, and will utilize a best-of-three, double-elimination bracket to determine who earns a spot at the event in China.

The complete closed qualifier team list is:

Falcons
Eternal Fire
BetBoom
BIG

AMKAL
Guild Eagles
Espionage
Nemiga