RBG, Strife advance to IEM Fall NA closed qualifier

The Premier sides are in with a chance to qualify for the Regional Major Ranking event.

The first open qualifier for IEM Fall North America has concluded, with RBG and Strife topping their respective brackets and securing spots in the closed qualifier set to take place later in September.

Some notable lineups who didn't feature in this qualifier are NA favorites Bad News Bears and Triumph. Due to already featuring on the North American RMR leaderboard, Bad News Bears are set to receive a direct invite to the closed qualifier, while Triumph are currently signed up for the second open qualifier.

The early stages of the bracket went off as one would expect, with the big story coming in at the round of 8, where Party Astronauts suffered an overtime loss to ATK. Ian "⁠motm⁠" Hardy stepped up against his former team, putting up a 1.46 rating to set ATK up for a match against Strife.

HexT had a 1.35 rating against ChocoCheck

In the final two rounds, RBG took down X13 and ChocoCheck, overall not running into much trouble other than an overtime map against Zack "⁠XotiC⁠" Elshani's side. Advancing to the IEM Fall closed qualifier bodes well for RBG, who recently added Jordon "⁠jitter⁠" Ruggiero and Tommy "⁠Axed⁠" Ryan to the lineup.

On Strife's way to qualification, they beat Mythic and majority South African lineup ATK in the final two rounds of the bracket. Much like RBG, Strife didn't lose any maps during the qualifier, and it was primarily Dylan "⁠SATURN⁠" Finch who propelled his team through the final series. This qualifier served as the first official outing of the squad under the Strife banner, having played under the Recon 5 tag until late August.

The pair of teams have filled two of the four spots allocated to open qualifiers, with the other two being filled by a second open qualifier beginning September 11. The page to register can be found on the ESEA website here.