Sydney, Australia, 8th August 2017 – Last weekend, The BenQ ZOWIE eXTREMESLAND Qualifier series continued with our eight competing teams battling it out for the final two positions at the LAN finals in Sydney, to take on the Chiefs Esports Club and Grayhound Gaming for a place in the eXTREMESLAND Major in Shanghai.
In this Closed Qualifiers series, our four qualifying teams from the previous Open Qualifiers; Team KiD, AVANT GARDE, Riotous Raccoons & Team Noxide came up against our four Invited teams; Athletico, Legacy eSports, Kings Gaming Club & Tainted Minds in a double elimination bracket.
The opening rounds of the upper bracket saw each of our qualifying teams drop in two maps, with the exception of AVANT GARDE falling 2-1 to Legacy after a strong showing on Inferno to take the first map in the series.
In what can only be described as an unstoppable performance from Kings Gaming Club, the newly formed roster stumped the likes of Riotous Raccoons, Tainted Minds and Legacy with a flawless run to the eXTREMESLAND LAN Finals in September. On the other side of the upper bracket, Legacy took out Overpass and Cache 2-0 over the Athletico side in a convincing display.
The real surprise out of this series came after AVANT GARDE took a very close 2-0 against the tournament favourites, Tainted Minds, taking their own map pick of Inferno16-14, and coming back late in the second half of Mirage to win 19-15 in overtime. Tainted Minds looked strong in the initial stages of both maps, but solid performances by SK and krudeN proved the difference in this matchup, with AVANT GARDE going on to face Athletico in the next round.
Athletico got off to a flying start against AVANT on Cobblestone with a 14-1 half on the CT side, and a 16-2 result overall to take the map. An ace from Noisia on the pistol round saw AVANT take an early lead on Cache, but the former Dark Sided roster proved too strong for AVANT GARDE, with Athletico claiming a 2-0 win to advance them to the qualifying match-up against Legacy.
As the final match-up of the series, Legacy and Athletico looked set to face each other on the same maps that saw Legacy claim a 2-0 victory just one day prior. Athletico wasted no time returning the favour to their opponents, with Texta leading the charge to victory for Athletico, taking back-to-back 16-2 victories on Cache and Overpass.
Kings Gaming Club and Athletico have secured their place in the BenQ ZOWIE eXTREMESLAND ANZ LAN Finals on September 9th to face off against Chiefs eSports Club and Grayhound Gaming at ESL Studios in Sydney. The winner of the LAN finals will earn their place in the eXTREMESLAND Asia Cup tournament series in Shanghai against 15 of the best teams from the Asia Pacific region, and the chance to compete for their share in the $100,000 USD prize pool.
The upcoming LAN Finals of the BenQ ZOWIE eXTREMESLAND will begin on September 9th and will be livestreamed on Twitch via the ESL_CSGO Twitch channel during the course of the event. Tickets are still available for anyone who is interested in attending the event, and you can buy them now by clicking here.
For more information on the BenQ ZOWIE eXTREMESLAND ANZ Qualifier series, please visit the events page via HLTV here, or keep up to date through the official BenQ ZOWIE Australia or ESL Australia Twitter pages.
