Quartet of teams complete IEM Fall 2021 Europe team list

fnatic bounced back from a defeat to SINNERS on Wednesday by beating Eternal Fire to qualify, while AURA edged past SAW in an upset.

The final four teams who will attend IEM Fall 2021 Europe have been determined following the conclusion of the tournament's closed qualifier, with fnatic, Fiend, MAD Lions, and AURA all securing wins in the lower bracket to book their ticket to the offline Regional Major Ranking event.

After a labored performance against SINNERS in their opening match of the qualifier, fnatic recovered in the lower bracket with a two-map series win over Eternal Fire. Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş' side took an early lead on Vertigo to kick off the series, but from there control was mostly in the hands of fnatic, who were led by an inspired performance from William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman in securing 16-13 and 16-11 wins on Vertigo and Mirage to secure their spot.

Meanwhile, Fiend made short work of OPAA, becoming the first team to advance from the lower bracket as they won Inferno (16-10) before cruising through Dust2 (16-7) for a swift 2-0 series win.

fnatic are through to the main event

MAD Lions, who had been sent to the lower bracket by Dignitas, were next up as they came out on top of a three-map affair against Anonymo, a series which began with Volodymyr "⁠Woro2k⁠" Veletniuk powering his side to a 16-11 win on Mirage. Despite a disastrous showing on Ancient (2-16), MAD Lions redeemed themselves on Inferno, putting up a similarly dominant performance (16-6) to advance.

In the sole upset of the final day, SAW were felled in tragic fashion by AURA. A 16-12 win on Ancient for Renato "⁠stadodo⁠" Gonçalves' troops gave way to a 2-16 loss on Overpass, forcing an Inferno decider. There, the Portuguese side pulled ahead at the break, and extended their lead to 12-6 before a comeback effort from the Swedish team got underway.

However, just when it seemed as if SAW would take the map over the line at 14-14, fatal mistakes in a 5vs2 situation gave up match point to AURA, who were able to convert and take the map over the line to book their ticket to the IEM event.

IEM Fall Europe is set to play out on LAN at a to-be-announced location from September 29 to October 10, and will be the final event to award European teams with Regional Major Ranking points ahead of the PGL Major.

Should any teams in the main event need to be replaced due to any issues ahead of the tournament, the 13-16th placing teams from the closed qualifier will also play in one final single-elimination bracket to determine a runner-up.

The complete team list for IEM Fall 2021 Europe is:

Endpoint
ENCE
Movistar Riders
SINNERS
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Heroic
Astralis
FunPlus Phoenix
FaZe
Dignitas
Fiend
fnatic

MOUZ
DBL PONEY
G2
Sprout
BIG
Vitality
Complexity
OG
Copenhagen Flames
SKADE
MAD Lions
AURA