Team Vitality and Team Spirit have secured the last two qualifier spots for the IEM Katowice Major at the European and CIS Minor championships.
Team Spirit placed second at the CIS Minor earlier this morning, while Team Vitality did the same for the EU Minor more recently. Spirit and Vitality join AVANGAR and ENCE Esports as Minor Championship challengers for the IEM Katowice Major, putting them in the New Challenger stage, which is set to begin on Feb. 13.
Related: ENCE and AVANGAR seal their spots at the IEM Katowice Major
To solidify their spot as the second-place team at the CIS Minor, Spirit took down Winstrike in three maps. They lost a 30-round bout on Nuke before finally taking the series in two convincing maps, Overpass and Dust II.
The decider match in the EU Minor saw Valdemar “valde” Bjorn Vangsa lead North to a win on Mirage, but the Danes couldn’t pull through on Nuke and Inferno. Vitality dominated North, while Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut carried them to the win at 23 frags per map.
CIS Minor
Decider match
Team Spirit vs. Winstrike
- Winstrike won Nuke 16-14
- Spirit won Overpass 16-6
- Spirit won Dust II 16-9
EU Minor
Decider match
Team Vitality vs. North
- North won Mirage 16-12
- Vitality won Nuke 16-5
- Vitality won Inferno 16-8
It’s not completely over for Winstrike and North, however, as they’ll have one more chance to qualify for the Major through the third-place play-in bracket next weekend. That playoff will decide which third-place team from each region—CIS, EU, Americas, and Asia—will be the ninth squad to qualify for the Major.
