BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 North America RMR Open Qualifier 1

Mythic and Strife among teams through to BLAST.tv NA RMR closed qualifier

15-2-2023 21:42

The four squads qualified while dealing with setbacks in the bracket organized by Gamers Club.

Four teams have advanced from the first BLAST.tv Paris North America RMR open qualifier as Mythic, Detonate, timbermen, and Strife won their respective best-of-three qualifying matches. These squads survived the single-elimination bracket which included three rounds of best-of-one fixtures and one BO3 series to secure their advancement.

The teams had to maneuver through a series of issues plaguing the qualifying process such as poor communication with Gamers Club admins, lack of guidance or knowledge regarding map and side selection, and even a player banned for allegedly cheating during a match. The turnout figures were also disappointing as the bracket counted just 46 registered teams, of which only 36 confirmed their attendance.

fl0m's Mythic were the first to qualify on Tuesday

Gamers Club is one of the largest esports platforms in Brazil; however, North Americans participants were unfamiliar with the portal, causing confusion during the qualifiers. To complicate things further, several teams in the bracket didn't know what time they were scheduled to register or check-in, meaning a few teams advanced through the bracket without playing any matches.

Austin "⁠Cooper⁠" Abadir and Erik "⁠fl0m⁠" Flom powered Mythic to victory over Limitless with fantastic performances worthy of 1.37 and 1.23 ratings, respectively. Their match was played on Tuesday as teams were given the choice to play their fixtures earlier. Detonate were the second team to advance following their sweep over skriptovie as four players registered ratings over 1.30 during the 2-0 match.

Americas RMR closed qualifier invites confirmed

The third spot in the closed qualifier was taken by timbermen thanks to their 2-0 win against Cartel terraza, which came shortly before Strife confirmed the last spot for themselves thanks to their 2-1 victory over 4ORMULA. Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis and company were unable to seal the match following their win on Inferno (16-8) and swiftly conceded Nuke (7-16) and Mirage (12-16).

The Bobby "⁠stamina⁠" Eitrem-led squad secured their appearance in the fourth round after defeating Goomba Stomp in the previous round. Their third game was briefly played against FunMix, but the match was canceled and their previous victory over Goomba Stomp was overturned as "pawt" was banned for cheating during the third round fixture.

There is one additional round of best-of-one matches to be played to determine the four advancing teams' seeding ahead of the closed qualifiers. The second open qualifier will kick off later on Wednesday with a pushed-back start time, allowing a larger window for teams to register and begin their bracket run.

The team list for the North American closed qualifier now looks as follows: