Europe Minor team list finalized: Heroic, OG, BIG miss out

The Europe Minor Closed Qualifier has been brought to an end, with a number of favorites unable to secure spots at the Minor in Rio.

The final day of the Europe Minor closed qualifier kicked off with the first leg of lower-bracket matches, with OG being the biggest name competing early on. Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's men took down KOVA 2-0 to advance further in the qualifier, while Copenhagen Flames managed the only upset of the round by taking down Sprout 2-1.

The next round of matches decided which teams would secure their spot at the Minor and join the likes of Complexity and fnatic. In a Danish derby, Copenhagen Flames (ranked 35th in the world) managed an even bigger upset than in round one, qualifying for the Minor at the expense of the 14th best team - HEROIC.

Losses to Heretics and GODSENT cost OG a place at the Minor

BIG's inability to close out Overpass despite Florian "⁠syrsoN⁠" Rische's 44K-27D game ended up costing them massively in the series against Movistar Riders. Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes's squad claimed the first map in overtime (22-20) and took a 2-1 series win (11-16 Mirage, 16-4 Inferno) to become the first Spanish-majority team to qualify for a Minor.

GODSENT opened their series against OG with a dominant victory on their opponents' map pick (Train 16-3), but Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt and co. kept alive on Dust2, edging out a victory after two sets of Overtime (22-20). Nuke was again a tight affair, with both teams posting strong T sides, but it was GODSENT that came out on top, in the end, thanks to a 1v1 clutch pulled off by Kevin "⁠kRYSTAL⁠" Amend, earning his team a Minor spot.

Jesper "⁠TENZKI⁠" Plougmann's 35 kills in regulation pushed Nordavind across the finish line on Dust2, giving the underdogs a one map lead, but the Swedish veterans bounced back on their map pick, Nuke, to force the decider on Inferno. Playing against his former team, Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli had a subdued performance in the series, but Dignitas were able to close out the series nonetheless, 2-1, and qualify for the Minor.

The eight European teams that will be vying for Major Qualifier spots are as follows:

fnatic
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Dignitas
Movistar Riders Heretics
Complexity
GODSENT
Copenhagen Flames

The Europe Minor is set to take placein Rio de Janeiro on April 26-May 2.

Nathan 'NBK-' Schmitt Age: 25 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1691 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67 fnatic #4 Robin 'flusha' RönnquistJesper 'JW' WecksellFreddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonMaikil 'Golden' SelimLudvig 'Brollan' Brolin Dignitas #44 Håkon 'hallzerk' FjærliPatrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundRichard 'Xizt' LandströmAdam 'friberg' Friberg Florian 'syrsoN' Rische Age: 23 Team: BIG Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1150 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.64 Sprout #32 Tomáš 'oskar' ŠťastnýTimo 'Spiidi' RichterDenis 'denis' HowellJosef 'faveN' BaumannPaweł 'dycha' Dycha Copenhagen Flames #35 Magnus 'Nodios' OlsenRasmus 'HooXi' NielsenIsmail 'refrezh' AliRené 'TeSeS' MadsenAsger 'Farlig' Jensen KOVA #65 Samu 'uli' LeirilaaksoLauri 'pietola' HietalaSamuli 'Twixie' HerralaPetteri 'peku' JaakkolaNikita 'Derkeps' Sirmitev Jesper 'TENZKI' Plougmann Age: 25 Team: Nordavind Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1088 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.65 HEROIC #14 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferCasper 'cadiaN' MøllerPatrick 'es3tag' HansenJohannes 'b0RUP' BorupMartin 'stavn' Lund Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli Age: 19 Team: Dignitas Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 322 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.65 Complexity #15 William 'RUSH' WierzbaKristian 'k0nfig' WieneckeValentin 'poizon' VasilevOwen 'oBo' SchlatterBenjamin 'blameF' Bremer Nordavind #50 Jesper 'TENZKI' PlougmannRuben 'RUBINO' VillarroelKevin 'HS' TarnNiels Christian 'NaToSaphiX' SillassenJorgen 'cromen' Robertsen Ninjas in Pyjamas #12 Simon 'twist' EliassonJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' SternerTim 'nawwk' JonassonNicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora BIG #21 Johannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschFlorian 'syrsoN' RischeIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşNils 'k1to' Gruhne Kevin 'kRYSTAL' Amend Age: 26 Team: GODSENT Rating 1.0: 0.93 Maps played: 1508 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.67 Movistar Riders #41 Christian 'loWel' Garcia AntoranRajohn 'EasTor' LinatoLucas 'steel' LopesAlejandro 'alex' MasanetAlejandro 'mopoz' Fernández-Quejo Cano GODSENT #18 Mikail 'Maikelele' BillJesse 'zehN' LinjalaMartin 'STYKO' StykKevin 'kRYSTAL' AmendPavle 'Maden' Bošković Lucas 'steel' Lopes Age: 26 Team: Movistar Riders Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 1028 KPR: 0.66 DPR: 0.66 Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen Age: 22 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 627 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.66 Heretics #76 Fabien 'kioShiMa' FieyAlexandre 'xms' FortéBryan 'Maka' CandaLucas 'Lucky' ChastangJérémy 'jeyN' Nguyen OG #16 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittValdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenIssa 'ISSAA' MuradMateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewski