This year, the North American Qualifiers for the Intel Extreme Masters Season XII World Championship were heavily impacted by teams withdrawing from the event.
Three big withdrawals
Almost every team waits until after a Major to make any sort of roster move, given that not only do multiple players inevitably become free agents, but there is also a downtime of six to eight months before another Major. This year was no different, as multiple teams decided to change (but failed to finalise) their roster, thus prompting their withdrawal from the tournament.
Due to this, the likes of 100 Thieves, OpTic, and Misfits all withdrew from the qualifiers. The first of these was OpTic, with IEM then deciding to reduce the number of teams competing down to eight from nine. 100 Thieves and Misfits were initially placed in the bracket before withdrawing, which led to both Luminosity Gaming and NRG Esports to be given a bye into the round of four, meaning each only had to win one best-of-three in order to qualify.
Ironically, the two teams that ended up qualifying were Team Liquid and Renegades, both squads that had to play an extra best-of-three in order to make it out. Furthermore, rumours have been floating around regarding Liquid acquiring Renegades player NAF, with his status for the World Championship unknown; it is currently unclear which team he will be on should he complete his transfer.
Liquid overcome slow start
This was one of the first opportunities for Team Liquid to play with their full five-man lineup (should NAF not join the fray), given they had to use their coach Zews during the ELEAGUE Major. Things started off rocky for the North American side, as they fell to Complexity on the first map of their best-of-three, losing Cobblestone 11-16. However, Liquid bounced back in convincing fashion, with back-to-back one-sided affairs, picking up a 16-7 scoreline on Mirage and a 16-2 on Train.
The most impressive performance for Liquid was in the first map of Overpass against NRG Esports in the round of four. Nitr0 showcased a similar performance to that he put up in the ELEAGUE Major, where he had essentially single-handedly carried Liquid to their victories, amassing 29 kills in the nailbiting 16-14 win here. Moving on to their own map pick of Mirage, Liquid stumbled with a poor showing (7-16), before rebounding on Train with a comfortable 16-8 win. The main concern for Liquid moving forward is whether or not there will be roster moves, especially since the current rumour linking NAF with JDM leaves the team without a dedicated AWPer.
Renegades roll
On the Renegades side of the bracket, they faced off against Splyce, who recently added XotiC to the lineup. The closest map of the series was the initial map of Cache, which Renegades comfortably secured 16-10, before the teams traded back-to-back stomps as Splyce won Inferno 16-7 and Renegades dominated Mirage 16-4 to close out the win.
This put Renegades into the round of four against Luminosity Gaming, where the only 2-0 of the event occurred. Once again, Renegades took home Cache (16-11), primarily on the back of NAF, who had an impressive 28 kills. Renegades completed the victory on Train in a 16-6 fashion, with fellow star player Nifty leading the way at 25 kills and NAF second on the scoreboard at 21.
Uncertainty looms
Unfortunately for Renegades, the entirety of their progress towards the end of the season could be undone should NAF complete his transfer to Team Liquid. NAF has been the main star of this team ever since his arrival, with Nifty continually being the second star with that one-two punch performing surprisingly well. It’s unlikely that Renegades would be able to secure a player of NAF’s calibre should he depart, with major concerns for their IEM World Championship hopes regardless, given the moral of the team could be lowered should NAF even stay.
All in all, the Intel Extreme Masters Season XII – World Championship NA Qualifier was a disappointing event, with the last-minute withdrawals reducing the overall quality. As eSports become more established, there’s a level of professionalism that needs to be adhered to moving forward.
