NA Regional Event 3 Closed Qualifier Takeaways

Heading into the final event of winter, today’s closed qualifier was an important event for a number of teams. A few teams were still vying for LA major contention, with a qualification much needed to keep that alive, new rosters and players were looking to prove their worth on the big stage, whilst the more experienced were now looking to solidify their spot, making for an exciting day of play.

Oxygen Hungry For LA

Oxygen came into the event sitting in 5th position, but due to their fall split failures, still had to come through the closed qualifiers, unlike their major competitors Version1.

Despite the minor struggle, Oxygen weren’t to be set back today and now look confidently set on their path to the LA Major, with a 3-0 performance with wins over the rising AllMid, previous top 8 competitors Ghost, and the ever dangerous Torrent securing their spot in the 3rd regional event.

Randoms Excel On Debut

RLCS 2021-2022 has seen the birth of many young, prodigal teams. Be that NXT, Gentlemen, or even RBG/Sup, many new players and teams have been given the opportunity through the open format to quickly rise up through the ranks.

Randoms, in their first event playing together, looked scarily strong. Despite coming in without a coach, void of serious experience, and with no one over the age of 16, the lineup of Night, 2Piece and Chronic today showed maturity and poise beyond their years.

After a nail biting loss to Shopify Rebellion, Randoms conquered the bubble in each of their next 3 match ups, dropping just 1 game in the following series’ against Flashes Of Brilliance, Sup and AllMid, proving their worth as one of North America’s rising teams, and hopefully laying the ground for a playoffs berth at next week’s main event.

AllMid Succeed On First Attempt

This truly is the feel good story of the closed qualifier. For a while now, AllMid has been one of those bubble teams sitting on the cusp of breaking through, but just not quite with the fire power to do so. Many times, they’d made it right to the end of the open qualifiers and fallen short, but in yesterday’s qualifier, they were able to overcome PWR to finally make a closed qualifier.

And presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, AllMid, and in particular Flitz, who has been on the brink of success for a while now after sitting in the shadows, have grasped the main event spot with both hands.

For a team so new to the big stage, they produced an incredibly impressive day of performances and consistency. AllMid took major hopeful Oxygen to a game 5 overtime, shut out well accomplished organization eUnited in game 5, and destroyed major contender Rogue to set up a 2-1 record.

Even with a minor lapse against Randoms, where their defensive line caved in, they responded like champions against NXT, producing some beautiful offence and holding off a late charge from NXT to take the series 3-0, locking in a well deserved main event debut, where they’ll have all to play for and nothing to lose.

Rogue Hang On, Ghost Horror Split Continues

It‘s safe to say that no one would have expected to see Rogue and Ghost vying for the final spot in the main event. But after a day of shaky, concerning performances, the pair found themselves at 2-2 records and pitted against each other for a much needed spot in main event.

The resulting series, honestly, wasn’t much to write home about. It looked slower, and more methodical than we’re used to seeing, and both teams were clearly baffled by the situation, with Rogue’s defence suffering early in the series to Ghost’s physical play to fall behind 1-2.

But when it mattered most, Rogue showed up, and in particular young prodigy Aqua, who helped guide them to the victory, clutching the next 2 games in nail biting fashion to take the series 3-2. For Rogue, it may not have been pretty, but it was enough, and they’ve now kept their major chances firmly alive, as their battle with Oxygen and Version1 will now have the chance to unfold in the final event of winter.

Conversely, for Ghost, it caps off a very disappointing split, given their previous performances, filled with mediocrity. After failing to make it out of groups in regionals 1 and 2, they now slide out of even the main event for the third, with big questions now needing to be asked of the lineup in off season as the once successful, top 8 lineup, has now fallen out of even being in the mix of things.