fnatic, MOUZ, ENCE to IEM Winter

The prestigious tournament qualifier.

Eight teams clashed in the IEM Winter Europe Closed qualifier, fighting for three spots at the event, which was going to take place later this year.

A rebuilt fnatic lineup with “smooya” holding an AWP smothered a struggling Complexity Gaming team in two maps, winning both Inferno and Nuke while losing only eleven rounds in the process. It was not the end of the road for fnatic, as the British-Swedish mix managed to sweep FunPlus Phoenix as well, as “16-12” on Vertigo and “16-13” on Overpass turned out to be more than enough for the berth at the event. mousesports, who have recently rebranded into MOUZ, ran into some issues against 9z Team on Vertigo, winning it in the overtime, “19-16”, but combined with a “16-8” score on Dust2 it was still a “2-0” victory. Their match against K23 was barely different, as a grueling “22-18” win on Inferno, followed by the “16-8” on Nuke gave the international mix their spot at the IEM Winter. Last but not least were ENCE Esports, who lost to FunPlus Phoenix in the opener, but ran through Complexity Gaming and K23 to get their revenge on FPX, as “16-12” on Vertigo and “19-16” on Dust2 gave them a much needed “2-0” and a qualifying spot.

With the qualifier behind them, some teams will be looking towards the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, while the others are going to try and build up for the next season.