FORZE and Valiance have claimed spots in the European closed qualifier for IEM Sydney after finishing top two in the first open bracket.

Open online qualifiers usually have upsets in abundance, and this one was no exception as several favourites bowed out of the tournament in the early best-of-one stages.

Third-seeded Virtus.pro were eliminated after just two games as they were beaten by Runtime, while French duo Vitality and LDLC met their demise against Endpoint and Sprout, respectively.

forZe will fight for a spot at IEM Sydney in the closed qualifier

The first qualifying spot was determined by a CIS derby between FORZE and Winstrike. The former QB.Fire team were in high spirits after booking a spot at the IEM Katowice Major via the Minor Play-in, but they were no match for the PLG Grand Slam semi-finalists, who ran out 2-0 winners without ever letting their opponents reach double digits in a map.

IEM Sydney 2019 Europe Open Qualifier 1Best of 3 FORZEMatchpage 2 0 31st January 2019 Winstrike 16Nuke 9 16Mirage 8

FORZE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Dmitriy 'facecrack' Alekseyevfacecrack	45 - 31	+14	94.7	1.38
Bogdan 'xsepower' Chernikovxsepower	38 - 24	+14	78.9	1.32
Andrey 'Jerry' MekhryakovJerry	41 - 34	+7	97.1	1.27
Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevFL1T	34 - 23	+11	68.4	1.20
Almaz 'almazer' Asadullinalmazer	34 - 27	+7	78.1	1.15

Winstrike	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
David 'n0rb3r7' Danielyann0rb3r7	33 - 37	-4	82.7	1.02
Kirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovBoombl4	37 - 34	+3	75.8	1.02
Aurimas 'Kvik' KvakšysKvik	26 - 39	-13	60.6	0.66
Georgi 'WorldEdit' YaskinWorldEdit	23 - 39	-16	53.7	0.63
Jan 'wayLander' RahkonenwayLander	19 - 43	-24	48.3	0.49

The other semi-final pitted first-seeded OpTic against 12th-seeded Valiance, with the Danish side drawing first blood off the back of a 30-bomb from Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke, who also averaged almost 120 damage per round.

huNter was in great form against OpTic

The Serbian side, who had recently placed fourth at the Europe Minor, fought back on Nuke after shutting down OpTic's late comeback attempt from 5-14 down. The decider map, Train, turned out to be the most lopsided of the three as Valiance ran all over their opponents, with Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač ending the game with a 2.04 rating.

IEM Sydney 2019 Europe Open Qualifier 1Best of 3 ValianceMatchpage 2 1 31st January 2019 OpTic 12Mirage 16 16Nuke 12 16Train 3

Valiance	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačhuNter-	77 - 50	+27	107.2	1.53
Nemanja 'nexa' Isakovićnexa	57 - 42	+15	80.6	1.14
Otto 'ottoNd' SihvoottoNd	48 - 44	+4	70.8	1.13
Rokas 'EspiranTo' MilasauskasEspiranTo	56 - 56	0	73.3	1.01
Nestor 'LETN1' TanićLETN1	37 - 49	-12	53.6	0.91

OpTic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jakob 'JUGi' HansenJUGi	66 - 56	+10	82.9	1.14
Kristian 'k0nfig' Wieneckek0nfig	59 - 58	+1	89.2	1.13
Ismail 'refrezh' Alirefrezh	53 - 51	+2	74.8	1.04
René 'cajunb' Borgcajunb	35 - 56	-21	51.6	0.72
Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferSnappi	28 - 54	-26	55.3	0.71

FORZE and Valiance will be joined by four invitees and by the top two sides of the second open bracket in the closed qualifier, scheduled for February 6-8.

The team list for the closed qualifier currently looks as follows:

BIG
North
FORZE
Open Qual. 2 HellRaisers
G2
Valiance
Open Qual. 2

Registration for the second open qualifier, which will be held this weekend, is still available by heading over to ESEA's website.

BIG #13 Fatih 'gob b' DayikJohannes 'tabseN' WodarzTizian 'tiziaN' FeldbuschIsmailcan 'XANTARES' DörtkardeşOwen 'smooya' Butterfield Winstrike #38 Georgi 'WorldEdit' YaskinJan 'wayLander' RahkonenAurimas 'Kvik' KvakšysKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovDavid 'n0rb3r7' Danielyan Virtus.pro #51 Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'byali' BielińskiMichał 'MICHU' MüllerMichał 'snatchie' RudzkiMateusz 'TOAO' Zawistowski FORZE #27 Dmitriy 'facecrack' AlekseyevAlmaz 'almazer' AsadullinEvgenii 'FL1T' LebedevBogdan 'xsepower' ChernikovAndrey 'Jerry' Mekhryakov Endpoint #78 Reece 'Puls3' MarrsMax 'MiGHTYMAX' HeathThomas 'Thomas' UttingFilip 'aVN' BelojicaAleksa 'Impulse' Stankić Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač Age: 23 Team: Valiance Rating 1.0: 1.15 Maps played: 741 KPR: 0.80 DPR: 0.67 Valiance #24 Nemanja 'huNter-' KovačNestor 'LETN1' TanićNemanja 'nexa' IsakovićOtto 'ottoNd' SihvoRokas 'EspiranTo' Milasauskas Runtime #89 Sergey 'starix' IschukDmitry 'hooch' BogdanovDenis 'seized' KostinNikolaj 'kalinka' RysakovAlexander 'scoobyxie' Marynych LDLC #23 Antoine 'to1nou' PirardMatthieu 'matHEND' RoquignyAlexandre 'xms' FortéDavid 'devoduvek' DobrosavljevicLogan 'LOGAN' Corti Sprout #54 Florian 'syrsoN' RischeTimo 'Spiidi' RichterDenis 'denis' HowellSabit 'mirbit' CoktasarJosef 'faveN' Baumann Kristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke Age: 21 Team: OpTic Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 912 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.69 OpTic #21 Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferRené 'cajunb' BorgJakob 'JUGi' HansenKristian 'k0nfig' WieneckeIsmail 'refrezh' Ali HellRaisers #16 Kirill 'ANGE1' KarasiowAbay 'HObbit' KhassenovÖzgür 'woxic' EkerBence 'DeadFox' BöröczIssa 'ISSAA' Murad Vitality #19 Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireAlex 'ALEX' McMeekinMathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut G2 #18 Audric 'JACKZ' JugRichard 'shox' PapillonKenny 'kennyS' SchrubAlexandre 'bodyy' PianaroLucas 'Lucky' Chastang North #12 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerPhilip 'aizy' AistrupMarkus 'Kjaerbye' KjærbyeNicklas 'gade' GadeValdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangså