Tuesday night saw Oceania’s final two challengers for the Major emerge, with Order, Rooster, Encore & DGG Esports completing the OCE Closed Qualifier team list. By this weekend, we’ll have our representative for the IEM Major APAC RMR, with a spot at the Rio Major up for grabs.
Encore and DGG joined Order and Rooster, who qualified last week, to round out this weekend’s closed qualifier for the RMR.
Order battled through the open bracket with relative ease, with Oceania’s undisputed top squad defeating Arena (16-2) and Nut-E Gaming (16-2) before dropping a map in their 2-1 (19-16, 16-13, 16-8) win over Encore.
Vertex were expected to qualify through the other side of the bracket but were halted by Morbin5 (16-10), who themselves couldn’t get the job done against Rooster in the best-of-three.
Tynan “TjP” Purtell (69-39, 1.73 rating) was astounding in Rooster’s 2-0 (16-11, 19-15) victory, booking their spot alongside Order at the RMR Closed Qualifier.
Encore would have to wait a week, taking down Rancor (16-1) and CAMO (16-3) before scraping by 2-1 (16-10, 12-16, 26-23) against Vertex, which included a behemoth quad-overtime Overpass.
DGG Esports joined the regional top three with wins over Ravenz (16-6), Team Yellow (16-9) and Antic Esports (14-16, 16-11, 16-12).
Order are looking to repeat their qualification efforts from Antwerp, but it’s to be confirmed if the squad will compete under the Order banner going forward following the organisation’s move into administration last fortnight.
The Closed Qualifier for the APAC RMR begins this Saturday.
Jam-packed September with DreamHack, BLAST, grassroots contests in store
This weekend’s qualifier kicks off a massive month of OCE CS:GO, with events catering for all over the coming six weeks.
Our rep for the Major cycle will be decided this weekend, before ESL Challenger Melbourne sees Order and Vertex take on the world at home.
DreamHack Melbourne marks three years since Oceania’s last offline CS:GO event that featured international attendees.
Groups for the tournament were drawn on Tuesday night, with Order & Vertex forced to battle their way through Brazilian squads Imperial and paiN Gaming.
Meanwhile in Group A, Entropiq, OG, Evil Geniuses and Wings Up battle for playoffs, with all group stage and finals matches played live in Rod Laver Arena over the three day festival.
The squad that emerges from Rod Laver Arena on September 4 takes home a cool $50,000 USD and, importantly, a spot at the ESL Pro League Season 17 Conference.
September 10-11 will see the group stage for the Fortress OCE Masters, with the top four qualifying for the September 16-17 LAN finals — broadcast live out of the Fortress Melbourne facility.
It is Oceania’s first opportunity to join the BLAST circuit, with the event winner earning an massive international opportunity at the BLAST Fall Showdown later this year.
Not to be forgotten, September will be rounded out with back-to-back grassroots events in Brisbane and Melbourne.
The third instalment of Daniel “Mavrick” Lang’s BrisVegas begins September 23, with the three-day event featuring a $5,000 AUD prize pool and broadcast live from the event studio in Brisbane’s north.
Rivalry, among many others, are back on board as a major sponsor for BrisVegas, and have already confirmed their support for a fifth tournament in the Queensland capital later in December.
Closing out the month is a soon-to-be-announced LAN in Melbourne, also to be held at Fortress on October 1-2, featuring a $5,000 AUD prize pool and a full 16 team format.
Andrew “Wander” Caughey, who masterminded the Clash of Rivals tournament in Melbourne back in February, is once again at the helm of the project. Further details are to be announced in the coming weeks.
Finally, it was announced Wednesday that PAX Australia will play host to the IEM Rio Major APAC RMR on October 7-9.
Four teams from the wider Asia-Pacific region, including our representative from the OCE closed qualifier, will converge on the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre to determine APAC’s two Contender squads for the Rio Major.
