With the first week of IEM Fall behind us we have been able to point out some guaranteed competitors present at the Major. Not everything set in stone though, the questions remain who is through, who is out and who can still make it.
Recap @ IEM Fall EUROPE
With many teams in contention for not only major slots, but also the legend spots for the region in this group the expectations were high for many of the teams.
However, most surprisingly Copenhagen Flames ran away with the group in a 5-0 fashion. G2 did what they needed to and set themselves up for a Legend spot by advancing through groups in 4-1 fashion.
BIG, Mouz and FPX all ended up with a 2-3 record, but in the end it was BIG who advanced through groups handing themselves the opportunity to make the major. They’ll have to take on Heroic if they want to reach their highest possible finish, the 9th place.
In Group B, two Danish giants were looking to top the groups and it was Astralis who did so, much like Copenhagen Flames in Group A they did so with a 5-0 record.
Movistar Riders, Heroic and Sinners Esports all ended with a 3-2 record and only two of these teams could advance to the playoffs, in the end it was Sinners who fell and finished in 4th place.
Movistar taking second place was pivotal to their run in the tournament as Heroic will have to face BIG to qualify for the 9th place match.
Unfortunately for the Juggernaut the temporary addition of Coldzera didn’t live up to the expectations and they couldn’t muster more than a single win to end in 5th thus failing to make the major in Stockholm.
An exciting group with teams as Dignitas having us experience some CS nostalgia as we saw f0rest and friberg still kicking it with the young guns. Unfortunately for the Swedes however they couldn’t make it through to playoffs as they finished in 4th place.
With ENCE topping the groups they keep their shot alive to make the major and both Team Vitality in second and OG in third have everything in their own hands to make the major. With the French roster already qualified.
With two very big names in CS in the groups, it was bound to be an interesting group, unexpectedly NiP managed to top the group 5-0 only conceding 45 rounds over 5 maps, by far the lowest in the entire region.
Team Fiend took the second spot over FaZe who still managed to claim the third spot in the group, meaning they are looking for a 9th place finish at best. Their shot at the major is not the most likely at all.
Team Fiend however could make it if they are able to do what needs to be done.
Out of the teams that made it through, a few of them have already secured their places at the major in Stockholm. Astralis, G2, Heroic, NiP and Vitality are the teams from the EU region who are already guaranteed to be at the major in Stockholm..
FaZe need a miracle to qualify, they need to place 9th themselves and have two of the following:
- BIG finishing in 12th place.
- OG finishing in 11h place or worse.
- One of Copenhagen Flames/Fiend/ENCE/Movistar Riders finishing in 8th place.
OGs loss to FaZe sees them out of contention for the major and it means with their placement being 11th at best, FaZe have fulfilled at least one of their conditions to make it to the major.
BIGs win over Heroic sees them qualify for the major as they only needed one more win to make it through to the PGL Major in Stockholm.
Mouz were unable to influence their own fate when it came to the major, but thanks to the win of FaZe they too are guaranteed to be at the major.
For Copenhagen Flames, Friend, ENCE and Movistar Riders all have the same requirements to make it, the easiest of which is to place 6th or better.
In short, the last few games of the European region have a lot at stake, but it is unclear who will and who won’t make it.
Recap @ IEM FALL CIS
Going into the event Natus Vincere had nothing to worry about, as they had already secured a place in the major, their goal then was to place as high on the RMR leaderboard as possible. Coming in as the No. 1 team in the world they promptly won all their games and topped the group 5-0.
Following NaVi were Entropiq and Team Spirit who made the cut by edging out Nemiga, as all three of them stood at a 3-2 record. With this result Spirit confirmed their presence at the major and Entropiq made it all the more possible as they finished in second place.
The story for Group B was clear, one of the big CIS teams, VP was looking to make it through in the top 2 of the group and secure their spot at the major. Gambit topped the group with a 4-1 record and fulfilled their role as group favourite.
VP and INDE IRAE did the same thing with a record of 4-1, but VP eventually edged out INDE IRAE and progressed to the semi-finals.
Thanks to all the results the teams fighting for the top 4 spots all secured their spots at the major with Spirit being safe too.
As NaVi and Gambit both won their semi-finals, they set up the dream final for the CIS region. Team Spirit picked up the win versus INDE IRAE and claimed the 5th spot, in the 3rd place final Entropiq took down Spirit and thus the Grand Final was the only match to be played.
At the last CIS RMR it was NaVi who picked up the win and as they were fresh of the Intel Grand Slam victory they seemed poised to pick up yet another tournament win, however Gambit came in all guns blazing with sh1ro being the region’s statistical leader, they were able to bring down NaVi and win the finale 2-0, this however wasn’t enough for them to take over the lead on the RMR ranking as NaVi had secured that by making the final.
Recap @ IEM FALL South America
In the South American region the story going in was simple, MIBR or Sharks would make it. They faced each other in the opener and Sharks was able to pick up the win 2-0 and move on in the Upper Bracket. MIBR moved to the lower bracket and had to take on Imperial now who fell to Bravos Gaming.
In the lower bracket MIBR did what they had to do as they beat Imperial and kept their dream alive to be at the major. Sharks fell in the Upper Bracket to Bravos Gaming and this meant the lower bracket final would be the deciding factor as to what South American team will be at the major.
Once again Sharks took down MIBR, 2-0 and thus secured their presence at the major. In the Grand Final they couldn’t overcome Bravos Gaming who bagged a nice amount of EPT points on top of their RMR points, so while not being present at the major they paved the way for a possible participation next time.
Recap @ IEM FALL oceania
Much like in the South American region, Oceania had two main contenders able to make it to the major, Renegades and ORDER.
ORDER promptly went down to LookingForOrg (formerly known as ex-Direwolves) setting themselves up for a big challenge which on the face of it looked hard. A tough battle against Vertex went their way and now they were on the brink of making it to the Grand Final in which Renegades would be waiting for them.
ORDER however was unable to beat out LookingForOrg in their rematch and not only did that qualify Renegades for the Major, they then followed that up by beating LookingForOrg 3-0 in the Grand Final bagging the maximum amount of RMR and EPT points for the event.
Learn more about the IEM Fall 2021 and watch matches live between 5th - 10th October on Twitch
For a preview of the North American and Asia region check out this article on our website.
